MARY  A.  MAVERICK  AND  CHILDREN 


jWemotrs 

of 


JWarp 


arranged  by 

Jfflabertcfe 

r  son 

(ieo.  JWabtsion  JUabertcfe 


Edited  by 
Etna  JWaberttfe  <6reen 


(Illustrated) 


Alamo  Printing  Co. 

San   Antonio,    Texas 

1921 


Copyright  1921 
By    RENA    M.    GREEN, 
All    Rights    Reserved. 


DEDICATION. 
c4 

There  are  twelve  of  us  in  all,  my  husband  and  I,  and 
ten  children — six  living  and  six  in  the  Spirit-land. 

To  the  memory  of  the  dear  ones  who  have  gone  before, 
^      I  dedicate  these  reminiscences  of  by-gone  years. 

MARY  A.  MAVERICK 


PREFACE. 

This  little  book  is  written  for  my  children — they  have 
often  requested  me  to  put  into  shape  the  notes  and  memo- 
randa which  I  have  jotted  down  during  the  early  days. 
I  have  based  the  following  history  of  my  family,  and  of 
events  .transpiring  near  us,  upon  my  own,  and  upon 
some  of  Mr.  Maverick's  notes,  which  were  made  at  the 
time.  I  have  drawn  somewhat  from  family  tradition, 
from  letters  written  contemporaneously,  occasionally 
from  books  of  authority  for  dates,  and  I  have  not  failed 
to  consult  with  many  of  the  survivors  of  those  early  days. 
I  have  in  some  instances  relied  on  my  memory,  but  not 
often.  I  trust  it  will  be  of  use  in  cementing  my  descen- 
dants together  in  the  distant  future,  as  they  are  now 
united  in  the  spirit  of  kindly  kinship.  I  am  so  impressed 
with  the  idea  that  the  work  will  be  useful  in  the  influence 
indicated,  and  that  my  allotted  time  on  earth  is  drawing 
toward  its  ending,  that  in  my  old  days  I  have  roused  my- 
self up,  have  experienced  again  the  joys  and  the  sorrows 
of  those  dear  old  times,  and  now,  my  dear  children,  the 
work  is  finished.  Jesus  said :  "I  must  work  the  work  of 
Him  that  sent  me,  while  it  is  day ;  the  night  cometh,  when 
no  man  can  work." 

MARY  A.  MAVERICK. 
San  Antonio,  Texas,  March,  1881. 


Contents 


Chapter  Page 

I.  Family  History — Ancestors 7 

II.  Early  Married  Days 10 

III.  Ho,  For  the  Lone  Star 12 

IV.  Tonkawa  Indians , 18 

V.  San  Antonio  de  Bexar ,..21 

VI.  Comanche  Indians ...27 

VII.  Doctor  Weideman 38 

VIII.  Comanches  and  a  Duel , 42 

IX.  Family  History  Resumed .52 

X.  Flight  60 

XL     Perote  68 

XII.  Colorado  River  Bottoms  78 

XIII.  Life  on  the  Peninsula 85 

XIV.  The  Angel  of  Death 96 

XV.  Our  New  Home  on  Alamo  Plaza  107 

XVI.  Conclusion  119 

Letters,  etc.  ..123 


Chapter  I. 
FAMILY  HISTORY— ANCESTORS. 

Y  maiden  name  was  Mary  Ann  Adams.  I  was 
(born  March  16th,  1818,  in  Tuskaloosa  County, 
Alabama.  My  parents  were  William  Lewis  Adams, 
of  Lynchburg,  and  his  wife  Agatha  Strother  Lewis,  of 
Botetourt  County,*  both  of  the  state  of  Virginia. 

My  father  was  son  of  Robert  Adams,  from  Massachu- 
setts, and  his  wife  Mary  Lynch,  of  Lynchburg,  Virginia. 
John  Lynch,  brother  of  Mary  Lynch,  was  one  of  the  lead- 
ing men  of  Lynchburg. 

My  mother  was  a  member  of  an  extensive  and  well 
known  family  in  Virginia.  John  Lewis,  the  founder  of 
the  Lewis  family  in  America,  married  Margaret  Lynn, 
daughter  of  the  Laird  of  Loch  Lynn,  Scotland.  General 
Andrew  Lewis  was  the  second  son  of  the  union.  He  was 
a  prominent  man  in  Colonial  days,  and  a  particular  friend 
of  Washington.*  His  wife  was  Elizabeth  Givens.  He 
commanded  the  Colonial  forces  at  the  great  Indian  battle 
of  Point  Pleasant,  where  the  savages  were  totally  over- 
thrown, and  where  his  younger  brother,  Colonel  Charles 
Lewis,  distinguished  for  gallantry,  was  killed.  Upon  the 
suggestion  of  General  Washington,  General  Andrew  Lew- 
is was  appointed  a  Brigadier  General  in  the  American 
Army,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary  war.  He 
was  then  prematurely  old,  and  died  in  1780,  having 
passed  his  sixty-second  year.  His  statue  was  placed  in 
the  well  known  group,  by  the  Sculptor  Crawford,  in 
the  Capitol  Grounds  at  Richmond,  Virginia,  where  my 
son  George  Madison  and  I  saw  it  in  1876 


*Now  Roanoke  County. 

*See    Theodore     Roosevelt's,     The     Winning    of    the     West,    Vol.     1,     Chapters 
VII,    VIII,   IX. 


8  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

William  Lewis,  of  Fincastle,  Botetourt  County,  Virginia, 
my  grandfather,  was  the  youngest  son  of  General  An- 
drew Lewis.  He  married  Lucy  Madison,  in  Washington 
County,  Virginia,  in  1788.  Lucy  Madison's  parents  were 
John  Madison  and  Agatha  Strother  Madison.  John  Madi- 
son was  first  cousin  of  James  Madison,  President  of  the 
United  States.  A  son  of  John  Madison,  James  Madison, 
was  President  of  William  and  Mary  College,  and  Bishop 
of  Virginia.  Another  son,  George  Madison,  married  a  sis- 
ter of  Chief  Justice  Marshall  of  the  United  States  Su- 
preme Court  and  became  afterwards  Governor  of  Ken- 
tucky. John  Madison  had  another  son,  Rollin,  and  several 
daughters,  one  of  whom  was  Lucy,  as  above  stated.  From 
this  marriage  of  John  Lewis  and  Lucy  Madison  were  born 
two  children,  Agatha  Strother,  my  mother,  and  Andrew. 
My  grandmother  died  in  1792,  and  by  a  second  marriage, 
with  Ann  McClanahan,  my  grandfather  had  other  chil- 
dren. 

Samuel  Augustus  Maverick,  my  husband,  was  born 
July  23rd,  1803,  at  Pendleton,  South  Carolina.  His  parents 
were  Samuel  Maverick  and  his  wife  Elizabeth  Anderson. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  General  Robert  Anderson,  of 
South  Carolina,  and  of  Revolutionary  note,  and  his  wife 
Ann  Thompson  of  Virginia.  Samuel  Maverick  was  once  a 
prominent  merchant  of  Charleston,  S.  C.,  where  he  had 
raised  himself  from  the  almost  abject  poverty,  to  which 
the  war  of  the  Revolution  had  reduced  his  family,  to  a 
position  of  great  affluence.  It  is  said  of  him  that  he  sent 
ventures  to  the  Celestial  Empire,  and  that  he  shipped  the 
first  bale  of  cotton  from  America  to  Europe.  Some  mer- 
cantile miscarriage  caused  him  subsequently  to  withdraw 
from,  and  close  out,  his  business,  and  he  retired  to  Pendle- 
ton District*  in  the  north  west  corner  of  South  Carolina,  at 
the  foot  of  the  mountains.  Here  he  spent  the  balance  of 
his  days,  and  invested  and  speculated  largely  in  lands  in 
South  Carolina,  Georgia  and  Alabama. 

The  Mavericks  entered  America  at  three  prominent 
points — Boston,  New  York  and  Charleston,  South  Caro- 


*Now  Oconee   County. 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  9 

lina.  It  seems  the  New  York  family  came  during  the 
American  Revolution,  and  were  not  related  to  the  others. 
The  Mavericks  of  Boston  and  Charleston  were  probably 
closely  related,  at  any  rate  they  must  have  been  of  the 
same  family  in  England.  Samuel  is  a  family  name  with 
them — the  Boston  family  had  many  Samuels,  as  also  the 
Charleston  family.  A  Samuel  Maverick  was  shot  by  the 
British,  in  the  Boston  massacre  March  5th,  1770s15.  Much 
of  the  history  of  the  Boston  Mavericks  is  to  be  found  in 
a  book  entitled  "History  of  East  Boston"  by  William  H. 
Sumner,  published  1858.  In  that  book  is  the  following 
statement:  "With  the  destruction  of  the  town  records,  at 
the  burning  of  Charlestown  on  June  17th,  1775,  were  lost 
the  only  means  of  making  a  full  genealogical  account"  of 
the  Maverick  family. 

The  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  branch  of  the  family 
preserved  no  regular  records — some  few  facts  and  some 
traditions  are  all  we  have  left.  Samuel  Maverick,  father 
of  my  husband  displayed  a  coat  of  arms,  and  he  occasion- 
ally spoke  of  an  ancestor,  Margaret  Coyer,  who  was  a 
Huguenot,  banished  from  France,  and  from  whom  he  in- 
herited the  privilege.  He  called  his  place  in  Pendleton, 
Montpelier,  for  her  ancestral  home  in  Southern  France. 
I  have  no  doubt  Samuel  Maverick  had  many  old  family 
papers  and  memoranda  in  his  house,  which  were  destroy- 
ed when  the  house  burned  down  in  184 

Many  incidents  in  my  husband's  life  I  do  not  allude  to 
in  this  book,  for  they  are  mentioned  in  the  "Eulogy  on  the 
Life  and  Character  of  Honorable  Samuel  A.  Maverick" 
delivered  October  1870,  before  the  Alamo  Literary 
Society  of  San  Antonio,  Texas,  by  George  Cupples,  M.  D. 


*The  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  erected  a  monument  which  stands  on 
Boston  Common  to  the  memory  of  the  four  men  killed  in  the  " Boston  Massacre," 
one  of  whom  was  the  youth,  Samuel  Maverick, 


10  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 


Chapter  II. 

EARLY  MARRIED  DAYS. 

ON  Thursday,  August  4th,  A.  D.,  1836,  at  my  wid- 
owed mother's  home  and  plantation,  three  miles 
north  of  Tuskaloosa,  Alabama,  I  was  married  to 
Samuel  A.  Maverick,  of  the  Republic  of  Texas,  formerly 
of  Pendleton,  South  Carolina,  Reverend  Mathews,  of 
Christ's  Episcopal  Church  officiating.  On  the  8th,  we 
left  for  a  visit  to  Shelby  Springs  of  one  month,  thence  to 
Talladega  Springs,  and  a  few  days  visit  to  Judge  Short- 
ridge's.  Here  we  met  his  daughter,  my  classmate  and  in- 
timate friend,  Mrs.  E.  A.  Lewis,  wife  of  Dr.  Hamilton 
Lewis  of  Mobile.  Maggie  Shortridge,  sister  of  Mrs.  Lewis, 
soon  after  married  Dr.  Philip  Pearson  of  South  Carolina, 
and  they  moved  to  Victoria,  Texas,  and  thence  settled  on 
Caney,  near  the  Hardemans. 

From  Talladega  we  went  to  Florence  and  Tuscumbia, 
and  visited  on  the  plantation  six  miles  from  Florence,  Mrs. 
Joseph  Thompson,  sister  of  Mr.  Maverick.  We  spent 
three  or  four  days  there,  and  one  day  with  my  aunt,  Mrs. 
John  Bradley,  also  one  day  with  Uncle  John  Lewis,  re- 
turning to  mother's  in  October.  January  1837  we  went  to 
Mobile  and  New  Orleans,  and  rode  eight  miles  on  the 
railroad  from  Lake  Pontchartrain  to  the  City  of  New  Or- 
leans—the first  railroad  I  ever  saw,  and  the  first  built  in 
the  south.  We  returned  to  mother's  on  February  28th. 

On  March  12th,  1837,  we  left  mother's  again,  this  time 
in  our  own  carriage,  to  visit  Father  Maverick  in  South 
Carolina.  We  arrived  at  "Montpelier,"  Father's  place  on 
19th,  and  had  a  most  joyful  reception.  Father  had  not 
seen  his  only  son  "Gus,"  for  such  was  he  called  by  his 
relatives,  and  by  the  colored  people,  "Mars  Gus," — for 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVEEICK  11 

several  years.  He  had  in  fact,  at  one  time,  counted  and 
mourned  him  as  lost  in  the  ''fall  of  the  Alamo"  in  Texas. 
We  were  treated  with  the  greatest  affection.  Father  fond- 
ly hoped  to  induce  his  son  to  settle  there.  He  offered  to 
give  him  "Montpelier" — mills,  vineyards,  orchards,  lands, 
and  shops — if  he  would  accept  them — or  another  place, 

"Gibbs,"  a  new  style  house  and  improvements:  but  all 
in  vain,  for  my  husband  dreamed  constantly  of  Texas,  and 
said :  "We  must  go  back." 

Poor  father  looked  sad  and  afflicted  at  the  mention  of 
our  going,  and  so  we  said  very  little  about  it,  and  agreed 
to  stay  as  long  as  Mr.  Maverick  could. 

Here,  on  Sunday,  May  14th,  1837,  was  born  our  son 
Sam. 

We  spent  a  pleasant  summer  with  father,  who  was  very 
fond  of  us  all,  and  especially  of  baby.  Father  had  three 
children  living  at  this  time — my  husband,  his  only  son, 
and  two  daughters,  Elizabeth  and  Lydia.  Elizabeth  mar- 
ried Mr.  Joseph  Weyman  and  had  three  children  by  that 
marriage — Elizabeth,  now  Mrs.  Dr.  G.  J.  Houston,  living 
in  San  Antonio,  Texas,  Joseph  B.  and  Augustus.  Her  hus- 
band died  and  she  married  Mr.  Thompson,  from  which 
union  were  born  Samuel  and  Josephine,  now  Mrs.  Hardin, 
of  Memphis,  Tennessee. 

His  other  daughter  Lydia  married  Mr.  William  Van- 
Wyck,  of  New  York  City. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  endearments  held  out  to  us  by 
Father,  my  husband  adhered,  without  flinching,  to  his 
purpose  of  uniting  his  destiny  with  Texas.  At  last  he  set 
the  time  for  departure  and  made  every  preparation  for  a 
great  journey  by  land  to  the  new  El  Dorado. 


12  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 


Chapter  III. 
HO,  FOR  THE  LONE  STAR! 

ON  the  14th  day  of  October  1837,  baby  five  months 
old,  we  bade  goodbye  to  "Montpelier"  and  the 
servants  and  set  off  for  Texas.  Father  accom- 
panied us  half  a  day,  and  it  was  a  sad  sight  to  witness  his 
grief  when  he  at  last  parted  with  his  son.  My  heart  ached 
for  the  dear  old  man.  We  travelled  in  a  carriage,  Mr. 
Maverick  driving  and  nurse  Rachel  and  baby  and  myself 
the  other  occupants.  In  a  wagon  with  Wiley  as  driver  was 
Jinny,  our  cook  to  be,  and  her  four  children.  Reached 
Mother's  about  the  last  of  October,  and  stopped  with  her 
about  six  weeks,  making  final  preparations.  Mother  con- 
sented to  let  my  youngest  brother  Robert  go  to  Texas  with 
us — he  was  fifteen,  but  slight  and  pale,  having  been  quite 
sick  during  the  fall.  My  brother  William  was  already  in 
Texas. 

December  7th,  1837,  we  set  off  for  Texas.  With  heavy 

hearts  we  said  goodbye  to  Mother,  and  my  brothers  and 
sister.  Mother  ran  after  us  for  one  more  embrace.  She 
held  me  in  her  arms  and  wept  aloud,  and  said:  "Oh,  Mary, 
I  will  never  see  you  again  on  Earth. "  I  felt  heartbroken, 
and  often  recalled  that  thrilling  cry;  and  I  have  never  be- 
held my  dear  Mother  again. 

Our  party  was  composed  of  four  whites,  counting  baby, 
and  ten  negroes.  The  negroes  were  four  men,  Griffin, 
Granville,  Wiley  and  Uncle  Jim — two  women,  Jinny  and 
Rachael,  and  Jinny's  four  children,  Jack,  Betsy,  Lavinia 
and  Jane.  Uncle  Jim  was  Robert's  man,  Griffin,  Gran- 
ville and  Rachael  belonged  to  me,  a  gift  from  my  Mother, 
and  the  others  were  Mr.  Maverick's  individual  property. 
We  had  a  large  carriage,  a  big  Kentucky  wagon,  three 
extra  saddle  horses  and  one  blooded  filly.  The  wagon 
carried  a  tent,  a  supply  of  provisions  and  bedding,  and  the 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  13 

cook  and  children.  We  had  a  delightful  trip  all  through, 
with  the  exception  of  four  days'  journey  across  a  prairie 
swamp  and  one  night's  adventure  with  Indians,  which  I 
will  mention  in  their  order.  We  occasionally  stopped 
several  days  in  a  good  place,  to  rest,  to  have  washing 
done,  and  sometimes  to  give  muddy  roads  time  to  dry, 
and  we  had  no  serious  trouble  or  accident  throughout. 
We  crossed  the  Mississippi  at  Rodney,  and  Red  River  at 
Alexandria,  and  came  through  bottoms  in  Louisiana 
where  the  high-water  marks  on  the  trees  stood  far  above 
our  carriage  top,  but  the  roads  were  good  then.  We  cross- 
ed the  Sabine,  a  sluggish,  muddy,  narrow  stream,  and 
stood  upon  the  soil  of  the  Republic  of  Texas,*  about  New 
Years  day,  1838. 

1838. 

January  7th,  1838,  we  occupied  an  empty  cabin  in  San 
Augustine,  while  the  carriage  was  being  repaired.  This 
was  a  poor  little  village,  principally  of  log  cabins  on  one 
street,  but  the  location  was  high  and  dry.  We  laid  in  a 
supply  of  corn  and  groceries  here  and  pushed  on  through 
Nacogdoches  to  the  Place  of  Col.  Durst,  an  old  acquain- 
tance of  Mr.  Maverick's.  Mrs.  Durst  was  a  Virginia  lady 
and  a  fine  housekeeper — we  spent  a  day  or  two  there. 
There  we  met  General  Rusk,*  also  an  old  friend  of  Mr. 
Maverick's  and  formerly  of  Pendleton,  S.  C. 

We  now  had  to  travel  in  occasional  rains  and  much 
mud,  where  the  country  was  poor  and  sparsely  settled  and 
provisions  for  man  and  beast  scarce.  On  advice  we 
selected  the  longest,  but  the  best  road,  namely  the  road 
leading  via  Washington,  high  up  on  the  Brazos.  From 


*Las  Tekas:  Name  of  the  home  village  of  the  Nassonite  Indians,  on  the  East 
bank  of  the  Neches  River. 

The  Frenchman  La  Harpe  claims  the  Province  of  Las  Tekas  as  part  of  Louisiana 
in  1719,  in  contending  with  the  Spanish  Governor  D'Alarconne. 

*Thomas  J.  Rusk  was  of  Irish  descent,  a  brave  soldier,  lawyer  and  statesman. 
He  came  to  Texas  in  1834 — signed  the  Declaration  of  Texas  Independence,  was 
the  friend  and  advisor  of  Sam  Houston  and  fought  gallantly  at  San  Jacinto ;  in 
this  battle  Colonel*  Almonte  surrendered  to  Colonel  Rusk. 

Rusk  filled  many  public  offices  and  was  elected  United  States  Senator  by  Texas' 
first  Legislature. 


14  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

Washington  we  went  to  Columbus,  on  the  Colorado,  and 
thence  about  due  south  towards  the  Lavaca  River. 

Now  came  a  dreadful  time;  about  January  26th,  we 
entered  a  bleak,  desolate,  swamp-prairie,  cut  up  by  what 
were  called  "dry  bayous,"  i.  e.  deep  gullies,  and  now  al- 
most full  of  water.  This  swamp,  crossed  by  the  "Sandy," 
"Mustang"  and  the  head  branches  of  the  Navidad,  was 
fourteen  miles  wide.  We  had  passed  Mr.  Bridge's,  the 
last  house  before  we  got  into  this  dreadful  prairie,  and 
had  to  cross  the  Navidad  before  we  got  to  Mr.  Keer's,  the 
next  habitation.  Every  step  of  the  animals  was  in  water, 
sometimes  knee-deep.  We  stalled  in  five  or  six  gullies, 
and  each  time  the  wagon  had  to  be  unloaded  in  water, 
rain  and  north  wind  and  all  the  men  and  animals  had  to 
work  together  to  pull  out. 

The  first  Norther  I  ever  experienced  struck  us  here — 
this  norther  was  a  terrific  howling  north  wind  with  a  fine 
rain,  blowing  and  penetrating  through  clothes  and  blank- 
ets— never  in  my  life  had  I  felt  such  cold.  We  were  four 
days  crossing  this  dreadful  fourteen  miles  of  swamp.  The 
first  day  we  made  three  miles  and  that  night  my  mattress 
floated  in  water  which  fell  in  extra  quantities  during  the 
night.  The  baby  and  I  were  tolerably  dry;  all  the 
others  were  almost  constantly  wet  during  the  four  weary 
monotonous  days — but  no  one  suffered  any  bad  effects 
from  the  great  exposure,  and  Mr.  Maverick  kept  cheerful 
all  the  while  and  was  not  a  bit  discouraged  that  we  could 
see — said  that  water  was  better  than  mud  to  pull  in  and 
that  we  were  only  .eight  or  nine  miles  from  Keer's.  Our 
corn  had  given  out  and  our  provisions  were  about  gone 
when,  on  the  30th,  we  reached  the  Navidad.  The  men 
"hollooed"  at  a  great  rate  and,  after  long  continued  call- 
ing men  appeared  on  the  opposite  bank.  Soon  we  were 
ferried  over,  and  were  all  warmed,  comforted,  fed  and 
treated  like  kinfolk.  Mrs  Keer  and  Miss  Sue  Linn  were 
ever  so  nice  to  us. 

February  4th,  we  reached  "Spring  Hill,"  Major  Suth- 
erland's on  the  Navidad,  where  we  all,  except  Mr.  Maver- 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  15 

ick,  remained  until  2nd  of  June.  Mr.  Maverick  went  on 
to  see  whether  it  was  safe  to  take  us  to  San  Antonio.  He 
also  visited  Cox's  point  on  Matagorda  Bay,  opposite  La- 
vaca,  with  a  view  of  possibly  locating  there.  There  he 
owned  land,  but  he  decided  in  favor  of  San  Antonio.  In 
February,  at  Sutherland's,  two  of  our  horses  froze  to 
death  in  a  norther.  April  18th,  Mr.  Maverick  went  to 
New  Orleans  to  purchase  furniture,  clothing,  provisions, 
etc.,  for  beginning  housekeeping,  and  returned  to  us  in 
May. 

At  Spring  Hill,  boarded  Mrs.  Roylston,  a  young  widow 
with  her  son, — also  Captain  Sylvester,  from  Ohio,  who 
had  captured  Santa  Anna  after  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,* 
and  Captain  Peck  of  the  Louisiana  Greys,*  who  was 
engaged  to  be  married  to  a  niece  of  Mrs.  Sutherland, 
Miss  Fannie  Menifee,  who  lived  beyond  the  Navidad  and 
was  the  belle  of  Jackson  County.  Fannie  and  I  attended 
a  San  Jacinto  ball  at  Texana,  on  April  21st.  Her  broth- 
er John  Menifee,  one  of  the  heroes  of  that  battle,  escorted 
us,  and  there  was  quite  a  gathering.  Miss  Fannie  received 
great  attention.  In  April,  Major  Sutherland's  corn  gave 
out,  and  he  went  over  to  Egypt  for  a  supply.  Egypt  is  on 
the  Colorado,  near  Eagle  Lake.  We  called  Mrs.  Suther- 
land "Aunt  Fannie" — her  eldest  son  William,  a  young 
man  of  nineteen,  just  home  from  school,  went  to  San  An- 
tonio to  learn  Spanish,  and  was  killed  with  Travis  at  the 
"Fall  of  the  Alamo"*  March  6th,  1836.  I  learned  from 

*See  Gen.  Houston's  official  report  of  San  Jacinto  battle.    Thrall's  His.  P.  265. 

*Two  companies  fitted  out  by  the  citizens  of  New  Orleans  to  help  the 
Texans'  cause. 

*The  Alamo  or  Church  of  the  Mission  of  the  Alamo,  "Alamo"  being  Spanish  for 
cottonwood  tree,  was  formerly  surrounded  by  cottonwoods.  The  corner  stone 
was  laid  1744.  It  was  also  called  Mission  San  Antonio  de  Velero,  because  it 
was  removed  by  order  of  the  Viceroy  of  New  Spain,  the  Marquis  de  Velero,  May 
1st,  1718,  from  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Grande. 

"The  famous  siege  began  February  22nd,  1836.  The  'Fall  of  the  Alamo*  took 
place  March  6,  1836."  One  hundred  and  seventy  Texans  with  such  courageous 
leaders  as  Travis,  Bowie,  "Davy"  Crockett  and  Bonham  determined  never  to 
surrender  or  retreat  to  Santa  Anna's  overwhelming  forces,  (some  4000),  and  all 
were  killed. 

Kendall  writing  in  1841  says,  "The  Alamo  is  now  in  ruins,"  and  so  it  re- 
mained for  thirteen  years  or  so  after  "the  fall."  In  about  1849  Major  Babbitt, 
D.  S.  A.,  made  use  of  it  as  a  Quartermaster's  Depot  and  in  order  to  do  this  had 
almost  to  rebuild  it.  "Deep  down  in  the  debris  were  found  two  or  three  skeletons 
that  had  evidently  been  hastily  covered  with  rubbish  after  the  'fall,'  for  with 
them  were  found  fur  caps  and  buckskin  trappings,  undoubted  relics  of  the  ever 
memorable  last  stand."  See  Wm.  Corner  in  San  Antonio  de  Bexar,  p.  11. 


16  MEMOIES  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

her  and  the  other  ladies  many  thrilling  tales  of  the  run- 
away times  of  '36 — when  women  and  children  fled  in 
terror  before  the  advancing  forces  under  Santa  Anna — 
savages  who  burnt  and  plundered  and  committed  all 
kinds  of  outrages.  They  told  me  it  rained  almost  every 
day  for  six  weeks  of  that  dreadful  time. 

One  day,  Old  "Bowls,"  Cherokee  chief,  with  twelve  or 
thirteen  of  his  tribe,  coming  from  Houston,  camped  at 
Spring  Hill,  near  the  house.  After  tea,  we  were  dancing, 
when  "Bowls"  came  in  dressed  in  a  breech-cloth,  anklets, 
moccasins,  feathers  and  a  long,  clean,  white  linen  shirt, 
which  had  been  presented  to  him  in  Houston.  He  said  the 
pretty  ladies  in  Houston  had  danced  with,  kissed  him  and 
given  him  rings.  We,  however,  begged  to  be  excused 
and  requested  him  to  retire,  when  he  in  great  contempt 
stalked  out,  and  our  dance  broke  up.  Bowls  told  us  Presi- 
dent Houston  had  lived  in  his  Nation,  that  he  had  given 
Houston  his  daughter  for  his  squaw  and  had  made  him 
a  "big  chief;"  but  that  now  he  was  no  longer  Cherokee, 
but  "The  Great  Father"  of  the  white  men. 

On  Saturday,  June  2nd  we  set  off  from  "Spring  Hill" 
for  San  Antonio  de  Bexar,  in  those  days  frequently  called 
simply  "Bexar,"*  which  is  now  the  name  of  the  county 
only.  Ten  miles  to  Texana  and  three  miles  to  Dry  Branch 
— on  3rd,  12  miles  to  Natches  and  three  miles  to  De  Leon's 
rancho,  on  the  Garcitas — on  the  4th,  six  miles  to  Casa 
Blanca  and  nine  miles  to  Victoria,  a  village  on  the  Guad- 
alupe.  On  the  5th,  eight  miles  to  Arroyo  Coleto — 6th, 
twelve  miles  to  Arroyo  Manahuilla,  where  a  wagon 
wheel  broke,  and  Mr.  Maverick  went  to  Goliad  to 
have  it  mended,  but  failing,  we  mended  it  as  well  as  we 
could  with  rawhide*  and  false  spokes. 

It  was  two  or  three  miles  north  of  the  main  road  and 
east  of  the  Manahuilla,  on  Easter  Sunday,  March  27th, 
1836,  that  Col.  Fannin  was  surprised  by  the  Mexican  Gen- 
eral Urrea.  Urrea  surrounded  Fannin's  forces  with  a 


*The  name  San  Antonio  de  Bexar  seems  to  have  been  used  only  in  connection 
with  the  presidio  or  military  post  of  San  Antonio  about  1733  in  contrast  to  th» 
village  of  San  Antonio  de  Velero.  See  S.  A.  de  Bexar,  Wm.  Corner. 

*Texas  cowboyg  used  to  say   "Texas  is  bound  together  with  rawhide." 


MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEBICK  17 

largely  superior  force,  (lately  victors  of  the  "Alamo"  and 
Travis)  and,  then  offering  honorable  terms  of  capitula- 
tion he  induced  Fannin,  thinking  to  spare  bloodshed,  to 
surrender  as  prisoners  of  war  his  whole  force,  consisting 
of  four  hundred  and  eighty  men  in  all.  They  were  march- 
ed to  Goliad,  and  the  next  morning  were  formed  into  line 
and  shot  down  in  cold  blood.  Santa  Anna  had  so  ordered 
— Urrea  refused  to  perform  the  bloody  deed,  but  Colonel 
Gavrie,  infamous  name  be  it  forever!  executed  the  order. 
Fifty-five  escaped.  On  June  3d,  1836,  General  Thomas  J. 
Rusk  collected  and  buried  the  bones,  which  had  been 
left  bleaching  on  the  plain  after  the  bodies  had  been 
burnt.  Gen.  Rusk  delivered  a  moving  address  over  the 
ashes,  bones  and  charred  human  flesh;  and  "there 
was  not  a  dry  eye  in  the  soldier  ranks." 

June  7th,  we  travelled  five  miles  to  Goliad,  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  San  Antonio  River,  and  camped  in  the  old 
mission  of  La  Bahia. 


18  MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK 


Chapter  IV. 
TONKAWA  INDIANS. 

ON  June  8th,  we  went  eighteen  miles  to  Ojo  de 
Agua,  and  nine  miles  to  Harris's  on  the  Ecleto. 
On  the  9th,  we  went  nine  miles  from  Harris's 
place  and  our  wagon  broke  down.  Mr.  Maverick  was  hunt_ 
ing  in  the  San  Antonio  River  bottom  for  wood  to  mend  the 
wheel,  when  he  met  Mr.  Harris,  who,  being  a  wheel- 
right,  agreed  to  mend  the  wheel  if  we  would  take  it  back 
to  his  place.  Some  of  our  people  were  sick,  and  Robert, 
Griffin  and  Jinnie  had  chills  every  second  day,  so  we  left 
the  main  party  tented  and  went  back  with  the  wheel  to 
Harris's.  He  was  very  kind,  but  had  very  poor  accommo- 
dations and  his  cabin  swarmed  with  fleas.  He  had  two 
very  nice  little  daughters.  Some  weeks  later,  while  the 
girls  were  off  visiting  relatives,  the  Indians  killed  Mr. 
Harris,  burnt  his  home  and  took  off  his  horses. 

June  12th,  late  in  the  afternoon,  we  reached  camp 
again,  and  were  loading  up  to  move  on  two  or  three  miles 
further  to  a  better  camping  place  for  the  night,  when  sev- 
eral Indians  rode  up.  They  said  "Mucho  Amigo,"  (dear 
friend)  and  were  loud  and  filthy  and  manifested  their  in- 
tention to  be  very  intimate.  More  and  more  came  until 
we  counted  seventeen!  They  rode  in  amongst  us,  looked 
constantly  at  the  horses,  and  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say, 
they  annoyed  us  very  much.  They  were  Tonkawas, 
said  they  were  just  from  a  battle,  in  which  they  were 
victors,  on  the  Nueces  River,  where  they  had  fought  the 
Comanches  two  days  before.  They  were  in  war  paint, 
and  well  armed,  and  displayed  in  triumph  two  scalps,  one 
hand,  and  several  pieces  of  putrid  flesh  from  various 
parts  of  the  human  body.  These  were  to  be  taken 


FIRST   PAGE   OF   DIAEY  KEPT    BY  S.  A.    MAVERICK  AT    YALE 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVEEICK  19 

to  the  squaws  to  eat  and  dance  around  when 
these  warriors  rejoined  the  tribe .  I  was  frightened 
almost  to  death,  but  tried  not  to  show  my  alarm.  They 
rode  up  to  the  carriage  window  and  asked  to  see  the 
"papoose."  First  one,  then  another  came,  and  I  held  up 
my  little  Sammy,  and  smiled  at  their  complaints.  But  I 
took  care  to  have  my  pistol  and  bowie  knife  visible,  and 
kept  cool,  and  declined  most  decidedly  when  they  asked 
me  to  hand  the  baby  out  to  them  that  they  might  "see 
how  pretty  and  white"  he  was.  I  knew,  and  so  did  we  all, 
though  we  did  not  tell  each  other  till  afterwards,  that 
they,  being  cannibals,  would  like  to  eat  my  baby,  and  kill 
us  all  and  carry  off  our  horses.  But  we  had  six  men  fully 
armed  and  determined  and  all  hands  kept  steadily  loading 
the  wagons,  saddling  the  horses  and  preparing  to  move.  I 
kept  telling  Griffin  to  hurry  the  others,  and  Mr.  Maverick 
worked  coolly  with  the  rest.  Jinny  said  "Let's  cook  some 
supper  first,"  and  grumbled  mightily  when  Griffin  order- 
ed her  into  the  wagon  and  drove  off.  Imagine  our  con- 
sternation when  the  Indians  turned  back,  and  every  one 
of  the  seventeen  rode  along  with  us !  It  was  a  bright  moon- 
light night,  and  Griffin  and  one  other  on  horseback  acted 
as  our  rear  guard.  About  midnight,  some  of  the  Indians, 
finding  we  were  so  unsociable  and  seeing  that  we  were 
dangerous,  commenced  dropping  behind,  and  one  by  one 
they  turned  back,  until  at  early  dawn,  when  we  reached 
the  Cibolo,  having  travelled  eighteen  miles  during  the 
night,  only  two  Indians  were  still  attendant.  Here  we 
camped  and  the  two  Indians  sat  down,  not  far  off,  in  an 
observant  attitude.  I  went  into  my  tent  to  lie  down,  and 
Griffin  said  "Don't  be  afraid,  Miss  Mary,  but  go  to  sleep," 
and  I  saw  him  sit  down  in  front  of  the  tent,  with  his  gun, 
and  an  ax  in  his  hands  which  he  shook  at  the  Indians,  and 
said:  "Come  this  way  if  you  dare,  you  devils,  and  I'll 
make  hash  out  of  you!"  I  went  to  sleep  with  the  baby  and 
when  I  waked,  all  the  vile  Indians  were  gone,  everybody 
rested,  and  my  breakfast  and  dinner  were  both  waiting 
for  me.  That  certainly  was  a  narrow  escape  from  a 


20  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

cruel  death.    The  Tonkawas  were  treacherous  and  cruel 
and  noted  thieves  and  murderers. 

It  was  well  we  did  not  trust  them.  I  will  give  an  op- 
posite illustration  of  Indian  treachery  in  an  event  which 
happened  only  about  two  weeks  after  this  experience 
of  ours.  On  June  27th,  or  28th,  1838,  whilst  a  party  con- 
sisting of  a  surveyor,  chain  bearers  and  others  was  sur- 
veying on  the  Rio  Frio,  a  party  of  Comanche  Indians 
came  to  their  camp  saying  "Mucho  Amigo,"  and  asking 
for  food.  They  were  welcomed  and  sat  down  with  the 
whites,  and  whilst  all  were  eating  together,  the  Indians 
sprang  up  suddenly,  killed  the  surveyor,  wounded  an- 
other man  and  stampeded  and  stole  every  one  of  their 
horses. 


MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  21 


Chapter  V. 
SAN  ANTONIO  DE  BEXAR. 

'E  were  now  travelling  up  the  valley  of  the  San 
Antonio  River,  occasionally  passing  along  the 
left  bank  of  the  river  itself.  June  13,  sixteen 
miles  to  the  Marcelino  Creek  and  three  miles  to  Aroche's 
rancho  near  Erasmo  Seguin's — 14th,  eight  miles  to  Jesus 
Cantu's  rancho  on  the  arroyo  Calaveras,  passing  several 
other  ranches,  eleven  miles  to  the  Salado.  June  15th, 
1838  nine  miles  to  "El  Presidio  de  San  Antonio  de  Bex- 
ar."  Senor  Don  Jose  Casiano,  whose  rancho  we  passed, 
had  offered  us  his  city  house  until  we  had  time  to  secure 
another.  This  polite  offer  we  accepted  and  immediately 
occupied  Mr.  Casiano's  house,  when  we  entered  the  town. 
This  place  fronted  on  the  Main  Plaza  (Plaza  Major), 
was  bounded  south  by  Dolorosa  Street  and  extended  half 
way  back  to  the  Military  Plaza.  It  is  now  covered  by  the 
east  half  of  the  Hord  Hotel.* 

The  front  room  of  the  house  was  then  occupied  by  my 
brother  William  Adams  as  a  store.  He  was  so  much  af- 
flicted with  the  "Texas  fever"  that  soon  after  my  wedding 
he  set  out  for  San  Antonio,  travelling  on  horseback  from 
Galveston.  Before  reaching  San  Antonio,  he  dreamt 
several  times  of  the  town  and  its  surroundings,  and  when 
he  reached  the  hills  east  of  town  he  was  struck  with 
the  faithful  resemblance  between  the  reality  and  his 
dreams.  He  looked  upon  it  as  something  marvelous  and 
frequently  spoke  of  his  prophetic  dreams.  He  was  twen- 
ty-two then,  and  he  immediately  determined  to  establish 
himself  as  a  merchant  in  San  Antonio.  He  bought  a  horse 


*At  present,    Southern  Hotel. 


22  MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK 

which  he  named  Mexico  or  "Mex"  and  rode  him  all  the 
way  back  to  Tuskaloosa.  William  turned  all  his  available 
property  in  Tuskaloosa  into  money,  bought  goods,  brought 
them  to  San  Antonio,  rented  the  room  of  Casiano,  and  set 
up  as  a  merchant.  He  rode  back  on  the  horse  "Mex," 
which  horse  by  the  way,  Mr.  Maverick  afterwards  bought, 
and  we  used  "Mex"  in  the  "run-away"  of  '42  and  when 
We  removed  from  La  Grange  to  the  Peninsula  in  1844, 
Mr.  Maverick,  after  our  arrival,  put  in  some  money  with 
William.  Dr.  Launcelot  Smithers  was  William's  clerk  and 
success  seemed  certain,  but  Smithers  sold  large  amounts 
on  credit  to  Mexicans  in  Coahuila ;  and,  though  the  Mex- 
icans were  well  to  do,  they  never  paid,  and  after  eight- 
een months  merchandizing  William  closed  up  without 
realizing  the  capital  invested.  William  left  February 
1st,  1839,  for  Mother's  to  bring  out  his  negros  and  try 
farming.  He  returned  with  brother  Andrew  October, 
1839. 

We  lived  in  the  Casiano  house  until  about  September 
1st,  when  we  moved  into  a  house  north  of,  and  adjoining, 

the  historic  Veramendi  place.  The  house  we  rented  be- 
longed to  the  Huisars.  Huisar,  the  ancestor,  carved  the 
beautiful  doors  for  the  San  Jose  Mission — he  had  quite 
a  number  of  workmen  under  him  and  was  employed 
several  years  in  the  work.  In  the  latter  part  of  December, 
Mr.  Maverick  went  to  Mobile  to  get  some  money  in  the 
hands  of  John  Aiken,  his  attorney.  Aiken  was  then  in 
Tuskaloosa,  where,  as  Mr.  Maverick's  agent,  he  had  sold 
to  a  Mr.  Brown  for  sixteen  thousand  dollars  Mr.  Maver- 
ick's business  stores  in  that  place.  Part  of  the  money 
was  paid  down  and  Mr.  Maverick  returned  to  us  in  Jan- 
uary. 

1839. 

Early  in  February,  1839,  we  had  a  heavy  snow  storm, 
the  snow  drifted  in  some  places  to  a  depth  of  two  feet, 
and  on  the  north  side  of  our  house  it  lasted  five  or  six 
days.  Anton  Lockmar  rigged  up  a  sleigh  and  took  some 
girls  riding  up  and  down  Soledad  Street.  Early  in  Feb- 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  23 

ruary,  we  moved  into  our  own  house,  at  the  north  east 
corner  of  Commerce  and  Soledad  Streets,  being  also  the 
north  east  corner  of  the  Main  Plaza,  (Plaza  Mayor.) 
This  house  remained  our  homestead  until  July  '49,  over 
ten  years,  although  five  of  the  ten  years, — from  '42  to  '47, 
we  wandered  about  as  refugees.  It  was  known  as  the  Bar- 
rera  place,  when  Mr.  Maverick  purchased  it,  and  the  deed 
dated  January  19th,  1839. 

The  main  house  was  of  stone,  and  had  three  rooms,  one 
fronting  south  on  Main  Street  and  west  on  Soledad  Street 
and  the  other  two  fronting  west  on  Soledad  Street — also 
a  shed  in  the  yard  along  the  east  wall  of  the  house  to- 
wards the  north  end.  This  shed  we  closed  in  with  an 
adobe*  wall  and  divided  into  a  kitchen  and  servant's 
room.  We  also  built  an  adobe  servant's  room  on  Soledad 
Street,  leaving  a  gateway  between  it  and  the  main  house, 
and  we  built  a  stable  near  the  river. 

We  built  a  strong  but  homely  picket  fence  around  the 
garden  to  the  north  and  fenced  the  garden  off  from  the 
yard.  In  the  garden  were  sixteen  large  fig  trees  and  many 
rows  of  old  pomegranates.  In  the  yard  were  several  China 
trees,  and  on  the  river  bank  just  below  our  line  in  the  De 
la  Zerda  premises  was  a  grand  old  cypress,  which  we 
could  touch  through  our  fence,  and  its  roots  made  ridges 
in  our  yard.  The  magnificent  old  tree  stands  there  today. 
It  made  a  great  shade  and  we  erected  our  bath  house 
and  wash  place  under  its  spreading  branches. 

Our  neighbors  on  the  east,  Main  or  Commerce  Street, 
were  the  De  la  Zerdas.  In  1840,  their  place  was  leased  to 
a  Greek,  Roque  Catahdie,  who  kept  a  shop  on  the  street 
and  lived  in  the  back  rooms.  He  married  a  pretty,  bright- 
eyed  Mexican  girl  of  fourteen  years,  dressed  her  in  jewel- 
ry and  fine  clothes  and  bought  her  a  dilapidated  piano — 
he  was  jealous  and  wished  her  to  amuse  herself  at  home. 
The  piano  had  the  desired  effect,  and  she  enjoyed  it  like  a 
child  with  a  new  trinket.  The  fame  of  her  piano  went 
through  the  town,  and,  after  tea,  crowds  would  come  to 


*Sun  dried   bricks,   often  in  San   Antonio,    soft   stone,   usually   plastered  on    the 
outside  to  protect  from  the  weather. 


24  MEMOIRS  OP  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

witness  her  performance.  One  night  Mrs.  Elliott  and  I 
took  a  peep  and  we  found  a  large  crowd  inside  laughing 
and  applauding,  and  other  envious  ones  gazing  in  from 
the  street. 

Our  neighbor  on  the  north,  Soledad  Street,  was  Dona 
Juana  Varcinez,  and  I  must  not  omit  her  son  Leonicio.  She 
had  cows  and  sold  me  the  strippings  of  the  milk  at  twenty- 
five  cents  per  gallon,  and  we  made  our  butter  from  this. 
Mrs.  McMullen  was  the  only  person  then  who  made  butter 
for  sale,  and  her  butter  was  not  good,  although  she  re- 
ceived half  a  dollar  per  pound  for  it.  Old  Juana  was  a 
kind  old  soul — had  the  earliest  pumpkins,  a  great  deli- 
cacy, at  twenty-five  cents  and  spring  chickens  at  twelve 
and  a  half  cents.  She  opened  up  the  spring  gardening  by 
scratching  with  a  dull  hoe,  some  holes  in  which  she  plant- 
ed pumpkin  seed — then  later  she  planted  corn,  red  pepper, 
garlic,  onions,  etc.  She  was  continually  calling  to  Leoni- 
cio to  drive  the  chickens  out  of  the  garden,  or  bring  in  the 
dogs  from  the  street.  She  told  me  this  answered  two  pur- 
poses— it  kept  Leonicio  at  home  out  of  harm's  way,  and 
gave  him  something  to  do.  She  had  lots  of  dogs — one  fat, 
lazy  pelon  (hairless  dog)  slept  with  the  old  lady  to  keep 
her  feet  warm.  When  we  returned  from  the  coast  in  '47, 
Sam  S.  Smith  had  purchased  the  place  from  her  and  he 
was  living  there.  He  was  a  good  and  kind  neighbor. 

We  moved  into  our  home  in  good  time,  for  here  on  Sun- 
day morning,  March  23d,  1839,  was  born  our  second 
child,  Lewis  Antonio.  All  my  friends  have  always  told 
me,  and,  until  quite  recently  I  was  persuaded  Lewis  was 
the  first  child  of  pure  American  stock  born  in  San  An- 
tonio.* But  now  I  understand  a  Mr.  Brown  with  his  wife 
came  here  in  1828  for  two  years  from  East  Texas,  and 
during  that  time  a  son  was  born  to  them  in  San  Antonio. 
Mr.  Brown,  the  father,  died  about  the  same  time  of  con- 
sumption, and  his  wife  moved  away  further  East.  The  son 
named  John  Brown,  is  now  said  to  be  a  citizen  of  Waco, 


*Lewis  Antonio  Maverick,  however,  was  the  first  child  born  in  San  Antonio  of 
American  parents  to  "grow  up"  in  San  Antonio  and  Mary  A.  Maverick  the  first 
American  born  woman  or  United  States  woman  to  make  San  Antonio  her  home. 


MEMOIES  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  25 

During  the  summer,  Sammy  had  difficulty  teething. 
Dr  Weideman,  a  Russian  scholar  and  naturalist,  and  an 
excellent  physician  and  surgeon,  took  a  great  liking  to 
Sammy  and  prescribed  for  him  with  success.  This  sum- 
mer, William  B.  Jacques  brought  his  wife  and  two  little 
girls,  and  settled  on  Commerce  Street.  In  the  latter  part 
of  August,  Mr.  William  Elliott  brought  his  wife  and  two 
children,  Mary  and  Billy,  to  San  Antonio.  They  bought  a 
house  on  the  west  side  of  Soledad  Street,  opposite  the 
north  end  of  our  garden,  and  we  were  a  great  many  years 
neighbors  and  always  friends.  This  year  our  negro  men 
plowed  and  planted  one  labor*  above  the  Alamo 
and  were  attacked  by  Indians.  Griffin  and  Wiley  ran 
into  the  river  and  saved  themselves.  The  Indians  cut  the 
traces  and  took  off  the  work  animals  and  we  did  not 
farm  there  again.  Mr.  Thomas  Higginbotham,  a  carpen- 
ter, with  his  wife,  came  to  San  Antonio  and  took  the  house 
opposite  us  on  the  corner  of  Commerce  Street  and  Main 
Plaza.  His  brother  and  sister  settled  in  the  country,  on 
the  river  below  San  Jose  Mission.  This  year  the  town  of 
Seguin  on  the  Guadalupe  thirty-five  miles  east  of  San 
Antonio,  was  founded. 

In  November,  1839,  a  party  of  ladies  and  gentlemen 
from  Houston  came  to  visit  San  Antonio — they  rode  on 
horseback.  The  ladies  were  Miss  Trask  of  Boston,  Mass., 
and  Miss  Evans,  daughter  of  Judge  Evans  of  Texas.  The 
gentlemen  were  Judge  Evans,  and  Colonel  J.  W.  Dancey, 
Secretary  of  War,  Republic  of  Texas.  They  were,  ladies 
and  all,  armed  with  pistols  and  bowie  knifes.  I  rode 
with  this  party  and  some  others  around  the  head  of  the 
San  Antonio  river.  We  galloped  up  the  west  side,  and 
paused  at  and  above  the  head  of  the  river  long  enough 
to  view  and  admire  the  lovely  valley  of  the  San  Antonio. 
The  leaves  had  mostly  fallen  from  the  trees,  and  left  the 
view  open  to  the  Missions  below.  The  day  was  clear, 
cool  and  bright,  and  we  saw  three  of  the  missions,  includ- 
ing San  Juan  Capistrano  seven  miles  below  town.  We 


*  Labor:      Spanish  land  measure  of  about    177   acres. 


26  MEMOIES  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

galloped  home,  down  the  east  side,  and  doubted  not  that 
Indians  watched  us  from  the  heavy  timber  of  the  river 
bottom.  The  gentlemen  of  the  party  numbered  six,  and 
we  were  all  mounted  on  fine  animals. 


SAN    FERNANDO    CATHEDRAL,    MAIN    PLAZA 
(Present    Front   Added    1873) 


MISSION   CONCEPCION    (First   Mission) 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  27 


Chapter  VI. 
COMANCHES. 

The  experiences  of  my  first  years  in  Texas  led  me  to 
think  the  Comanches  were  an  active  and  vigorous  tribe 
of  Indians.  At  that  time  they  were  about  the  only  In- 
dians who  infested  the  country  in  the  vicinity  of  San  An- 
tonio, and  I  must  mention  here  some  of  their  deeds  which 
held  our  attention  at  the  time. 

June  29th,  1838,  thirty-eight  Comanches  came  into  the 
edge  of  town  and  killed  two  Mexicans  and  stole  one  boy — 
on  the  30th  they  killed  a  German  and  a  Mexican.  July 
1st,  the  flag  of  Texas  waves  on  the  Plaza  in  front  of  the 
Court  House,  and  a  company  of  volunteers  are  assembling 
for  pursuit  of  the  Indians.  Later,  our  company  of  volun- 
teers fell  in  with  a  considerable  party  of  Comanches,  at- 
tacked them,  killed  two  and  wounded  many  others — but 
the  wounded  were  carried  off  by  the  others,  all  of  whom 
beat  a  hasty  retreat.  Our  people  captured  all  their  horses 
and  provisions. 

The  Mexicans  of  Mexico  have  not  forgotten  us.  About 
this  time,  a  party  of  Mexicans,  200  strong  under  Agaton, 
learning  that  valuable  goods  had  been  landed  at  Ca- 
pano,  and  were  being  carted  by  friendly  Mexicans  to  the 
San  Antonio  merchants,  crossed  the  Rio  Grande  at  Mata- 
moras,  captured  the  train  and  compelled  the  cartmen  to 
haul  the  goods  to  the  Nueces  river  where  the  cartmen 
were  dismissed.  Of  the  two  Americans  who  were  with 
the  train  when  it  was  captured,  one  was  killed  and  the 
other  was  wounded,  but  escaped. 

During  July,  1838  many  rumors  from  the  west  came  to 
the  effect  that  an  army  of  centralists  was  marching  to 
capture  Bexar — also  that  the  Comanche  Nation  had  en- 


28  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

tered  into  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  the  Mexicans  and 
would  act  with  them  for  our  extermination.  But  in  a  day 
or  two,  it  was  ascertained  that  Aristo  had  pursued  the 
"President  of  the  Republic  of  the  Rio  Grande,"  General 
Vidauria,  who  having  been  defeated  in  battle  had  fled 
to  Texas  for  refuge.  Aristo  turned  back  at  the  Nueces. 
But  I  have  promised  to  speak  of  the  Indians.  In  the 
stable  We  built  on  our  home  lot,  Mr.  Maverick  kept  a  fine 
blooded  horse,  fastened  by  a  heavy  pad-locked  chain  to 
a  mesquite-picket.  The  door  of  the  stable  was  securely 
locked  also,  for  every  precaution  was  necessary  to  pre- 
vent his  being  stolen.  This  was  the  "war  horse."  Mr. 
Maverick  was  a  member  of  the  Volunteer  Company  of 
"Minute  Men"  commanded  by  the  celebrated  Jack  Hays* 
— who  is  now  an  honored  citizen  of  California.  Each  vol- 
unteer kept  a  good  horse,  saddle,  bridle  and  arms,  and  a 
supply  of  coffee,  salt,  sugar  and  other  provisions  ready 
at  any  time  to  start  on  fifteen  minutes  warning,  in  pursuit 
of  marauding  Indians.  At  a  certain  signal  given  by  the 
Cathedral  bell,  the  men  were  off,  in  buckskin  clothes  and 
blankets  responding  promptly  to  the  call.  They  were  or- 
ganized to  follow  the  Indians  to  their  mountain  fastnesses 
and  destroy  their  villages,  if  they  failed  to  kill  the  Indians. 


*John  Coffee  Hays  or  "Jack"  Hays  was  born  January  28,  1817  at  Little  Cedar 
Lick,  Wilson  County,  Tenn.,  close  to  the  "Hermitage,"  which  was  originally  * 
part  of  the  Hays  property. 

His  father  and  grandfather  distinguished  themselves  in  Creek  wars  under 
Jackson.  Hays  left  home  at  the  age  of  fifteen  to  survey  land  in  Mississippi.  At 
the  age  of  nineteen  he  joined  the  Texan  Army  at  Brazos  River  just  after  San 
Jacinto  battle.  Besides  leading  the  "Minute  Men"  in  San  Antonio  he  commanded 
in  numerous  battles  against  Mexico,  and  was  commissioned  by  the  Texas  Congress, 
in  1840,  first  Captain  of  the  Texas  Rangers.  He  distinguished  himself  repeatedly 
in  the  Mexican  war  and  later  crossed  the  plains  to  California  in  '49  where  he 
filled  courageously  many  positions  of  public  trust.  He  died  in  Piedmont,  Califor- 
nia, April  28,  1883.  John  Hays  Hammond  was  a  nephew. 

HittelTs  History  of  California  gives  the  following  incident  in  connection  with 
Hays'  election  as  first  sheriff  of  San  Francisco — it  seems  his  opponent  was  a 
saloonkeeper  who  represented  the  lawless  element  of  the  town;  on  the 
day  of  election  the  latter  opened  to  the  public  free  of  charge  his 
choicest  liquors,  to  curry  favor  and  secure  votes.  Wishing  to  hear  how  the  elec- 
tion was  going,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  election  day,  Hays  rode  into  the  public 
square  on  his  splendid  mettlesome  steed,  whereupon  the  crowd,  carried  away  by 
his  noble  appearance,  cheered  wildly  and  elected  him  forthwith. 

Some  buildings  and  the  original  fence  of  Hays'  San  Antonio  home  still  stand 
on  N.  W.  cor.  of  Presa  and  Nueva  Sts..  San  Antonio. 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  29 

Jack  Hays  came  from  Tennessee  to  Texas  just  after  the 
battle  of  San  Jacinto  and  when  he  came  to  San  Antonio 
he  was  nineteen  years  of  age,  at  which  time  he  was  ap- 
pointed a  deputy  surveyor.  The  surveying  parties  fre- 
quently had  "brushes"  with  the  Indians,  and  it  was  on 
these  occasions  that  Hays  displaced  such'  tare  mili- 
tary skill  and  daring,  that  very  soon  by  consent  of  all,  he 
was  looked  upon  as  the  leader  and  his  orders  were  obey- 
ed and  he  himself  loved  by  all.  In  a  fight  he  was  utterly 
fearless  and  invincible. 

There  were  many  remarkable  young  men  in  San  An- 
tonio at  that  time  who  were  attracted  by  the  climate 
by  the  novelty,  or  by  the  all-absorbing  spirit  of  land 
speculation.  They  volunteered  from  almost  every  state 
of  the  Union  to  come  and  fight  in  the  short  but 
bloody  struggle  of  '35  and  '36  for  the  freedom  of  Texas. 
Many  came  too  late,  i.  e.,  after  San  Jacinto,  but  were 
drawn  to  the  west  by  the  wildness  and  danger  and  dar- 
ing of  the  frontier  life.  They  were  a  noble  and  gallant 
set  or  "boys"  as  they  styled  each  other  and  soon  the  In- 
dians grew  less  aggressive,  and  finally  Hays'  band  drove 
them  farther  out  west,  and  made  them  suffer  so  much 
after  each  of  their  raids  that  they  talked  of  wanting 
peace,  and  thus  it  went  on  for  several  years. 

On  June  10,  1839,  a  party  of  Americans  under  Hays 
and  a  company  of  Mexicans  under  Captain  Juan  N.  Se- 
guin  set  off  in  pursuit  of  the  Comanches,  who  just  then 
were  very  bold,  and  were  constantly  killing  and  scalping 
and  robbing  in  every  direction.  The  Indians  fled  and 
were  chased  into  the  Canyon  de  Uvalde,  where  our  men 
found  and  destroyed  their  villages,  newly  deserted.  They 
saw  numbers  6f  Indians  all  the  time  in  the  distance, 
amongst  rocks  and  hills,  but  scattered  and  hiding  or  flee- 
ing from  danger.  They  had  been  away  from  San  Antonio 
ten  days,  when  Captain  Seguin  returned  reporting  the 
woods  full  of  Indians  and  predicting  that  our  men  would 
surely  be  killed.  Mr.  Maverick  was  with  Hays,  and  after 
five  more  terribly  anxious  days,  I  was  gladdened  by  his  re- 
turn. Our  men  had  killed  only  a  few  savages  and  return- 


30  MEMOIES  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

ed  with  some  Indian  ponies,  dreadfully  ragged,  dirty  and 
hungry. 

At  the  close  of  the  Fall  Term  of  the  Court  in  1839  or 
1840,  a  number  of  gentlemen  who  had  attended  from  a 
distance,  wished  to  ride  out  to  the  west  of  town  and  see 
the  country  before  they  returned  home.  A  party  was 
made  up  of  ten  Americans  and  about  as  many 
Mexicans.  They  were  well  mounted  and  armed 
and  rode  out  about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  After 
sunset,  Mr.  Campbell,  ''Talking  Campbell,"  one  of  the 
party,  returned  alone  and  reported  the  Indians  had  got 
between  the  party  and  town,  cut  off  retreat,  and  killed 
all  but  himself,  who  rode  a  very  fine  horse  and  had  fled  at 
once ;  he  advised  the  others,  he  said,  to  cut  their  way  back 
because  the  Indians  greatly  outnumbered  our  party. 
Campbell  was  hotly  pursued  by  the  Indians,  and  he  made 
a  detour  to  the  south,  where  his  horse  distanced  the 
pursuers  finally,  and  he  came  into  town  with  the  dreadful 
news.  Next  morning,  early,  a  strong  party  left  town  with 
carts,  and  by  noon  returned  with  eighteen  bodies.  They 
were  taken  to  the  Court  House  and  laid  out.  They  had 
been  found  naked,  hacked  with  tomahawks  and  partly 
eaten  by  Wolves.  The  following  day,  the  nine  Americans 
were  buried  in  one  large  grave  west  of  the  San  Pedro, 
outside  of  the  Catholic  burying  ground,  and  very  near 
its  S.  W.  corner.  The  nine  Mexicans  were  buried  inside 
the  Catholic  cemetery.  It  was  believed  some  Indians  had 
been  killed  too,  but  as  they  always  carried  off  their  dead, 
their  loss  was  never  ascertained. 

In  the  spring  of  1840,  my  brothers  William  and  An- 
drew Adams  leased  land  of  J.  A.  de  la  Garza,  at  the 
mission  of  San  Francisco  de  la  Espada,  and  put  in  a  crop. 
But  the  Indians  were  so  bad,  and  corn  so  dear,  selling 
then  at  two  or  three  dollars  per  bushel,  and  their  plow 
animals  were  so  constantly  stolen,  that  they  broke  up  in 
the  fall,  and  moved  to  San  Marcos,  and  bought  land 
of  a  Mr.  Mathews,  where  they  made  fine  crops  for  two 
years. 


MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEEICK  31 

A  DAY  OF  HORRORS. 

On  Tuesday,  19th  of  March,  1840,  "dia  de  San  Jose" 
sixty-five  Comanches  came  into  town  to  make  a  treaty 
of  peace.  They  brought  with  them,  and  reluctantly  gave 
up,  Matilda  Lockhart,  whom  they  had  captured  with  her 
younger  sister  in  December  1838,  after  killing  two  other 
children  of  her  family.  The  Indian  chiefs  and  men  met 
in  council  at  the  Court  House,  with  our  city  and  military 
authorities.  The  calaboose  or  jail  then  occupied  the 
corner  formed  by  the  east  line  of  Main  Plaza  and  the 
north  line  of  Calabosa  (now  Market)  Street,  and  the 
Court  House  was  north  of  and  adjoining  the  jail.  The 
Court  House  yard,  back  of  the  Court  House,  was  what  is 
now  the  city  market  on  Market  Street.  The  Court 
House  and  jail  were  of  stone,  one  story,  flat  roofed,  and 
floored  with  dirt.  Captain  Tom  Howard's  Company  was 
at  first  in  the  Court  House  yard,  where  the  Indian  women 
and  boys  came  and  remained  during  the  powwow.  The 
young  Indians  amused  themselves  shooting  arrows  at 
pieces  of  money  put  up  by  some  of  the  Americans;  and 
Mrs.  Higginbotham  and  myself  amused  ourselves  looking 
through  the  picket  fence  at  them. 

This  was  the  third  time  these  Indians  had  come  for  a 
talk,  pretending  to  seek  peace,  and  trying  to  get  ransom 
money  for  their  American  and  Mexican  captives.  Their 
proposition  now  was  that  they  should  be  paid  a  great 
price  for  Matilda  Lockhart,  and  a  Mexican  they  had  just 
given  up,  and  that  traders  be  sent  with  paint,  powder, 
flannel,  blankets  and  such  other  articles  as  they  should 
name,  to  ransom  the  other  captives.  This  course  had  once 
before  been  asked  and  carried  out,  but  the  smallpox 
breaking  out,  the  Indians  killed  the  traders  and  kept  the 
goods — believing  the  traders  had  made  the  smallpox  to 
kill  them.  Now  the  Americans,  mindful  of  the  treachery 
of  the  Comanches,  answered  them  as  follows :  "We  will 
according  to  a  former  agreement,*  keep  four  or  five  of 
your  chiefs,  whilst  the  others  of  your  people  go  to  your 


*With  Chief  Muc  Warrak. 


32  MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK 

nation  and  bring  all  the  captives,  and  then  we  will  pay  all 
you  ask  for  them.  Meanwhile,  these  chiefs  we  hold  we 
will  treat  as  brothers  and  'not  one  hair  of  their 
heads  shall  be  injured/  This  we  have  determined,  and, 
if  you  try  to  fight,  our  soldiers  will  shoot  you  down." 

This  being  interpreted,  the  Comanches  instantly,  with 
one  accord  raised  a  terrific  war-whoop,  drew  their  ar- 
rows, and  commenced  firing  with  deadly  effect,  at  the 
same  time  making  efforts  to  break  out  of  the  council  hall. 
The  order  "fire"  was  given  by  Captain  Howard,  and  the 
soldiers  fired  into  the  midst  of  the  crowd,  the  first  volley 
killing  several  Indians  and  two  of  our  own  people.  All 
soon  rushed  out  into  the  public  square,  the  civilians  to  pro- 
cure arms,  the  Indians  to  flee,  and  the  soldiers  in  pursuit. 
The  Indians  generally  made  for  the  river — they  ran  up 
Soledad,  east  on  Commerce  Street  and  for  the  bend,  now 
known  as  Bowen's,  southeast,  below  the  square.  Citizens 
and  soldiers  pursued  and  overtook  them  at  all 
points,  shot  some  swimming  in  the  river,  had  desperate 
fights  in  the  streets — and  hand  to  hand  encounters  after 
firearms  had  been  exhausted.  Some  Indians  took  refuge 
in  stone  houses  and  fastened  the  doors.  Not  one  of  the 
sixty-five  Indians  escaped — thirty-three  were  killed  and 
thirty-two  were  taken  prisoners.  Six  Americans  and  one 
Mexican  were  killed  and  ten  Americans  wounded.  Our 
killed  were  Julian  Hood,  the  sheriff,  Judge  Thompson, 
advocate  from  South  Carolina,  G.  W.  Cayce  from  the 
Brazos,  one  officer  and  two  soldiers  whose  names  I  did 
not  learn,  nor  that  of  the  Mexican.  The  wounded  were 
Lieutenant  Thompson,  brother  of  the  Judge,  Captain  Tom 
Howard,  Captain  Mat  Caldwell,  citizen  volunteer  from 
Gonzales,  Judge  Robinson,  Mr.  Morgan,  deputy  sheriff, 
Mr.  Higginbotham  and  two  soldiers.  Others  were  slightly 
wounded. 

When  the  deafening  war-whoop  sounded  in  the  Court 
room,  it  was  so  loud,  so  shrill  and  so  inexpressibly  horrible 
and  suddenly  raised,  that  we  women  looking  through  the 
fence  at  the  women's  and  boy's  markmanship  for  a  mo- 
ment could  not  comprehend  its  purport.  The  Indians  how- 


MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  33 

ever  knew  the  first  note  and  instantly  shot  their  arrows 
into  the  bodies  of  Judge  Thompson  and  the  other  gentle- 
man near  by,  instantly  killing  Judge  Thompson.  We  fled 
into  Mrs.  Higginbotham's  house  and  I,  across  the  street 
to  my  Commerce  Street  door.  Two  Indians  ran  past  me  on 
the  street  and  one  reached  my  door  as  I  got  in.  He  turned 
to  raise  his  hand  to  push  it  just  as  I  beat  down  the  heavy 
bar;  then  he  ran  on.  I  ran  in  the  north  room  and  saw  my 
husband  and  brother  Andrew  sitting  calmly  at  a  table  in- 
specting some  plats  of  surveys — they  had  heard  nothing. 
I  soon  gave  them  the  alarm,  and  hurried  on  to  look  for  my 
boys.  Mr.  Maverick  and  Andrew  seized  their  arms,  al- 
ways ready — Mr.  Maverick  rushed  into  the  street,  and 
Andrew  into  the  back  yard  where  I  was  shouting  at  the 
top  of  my  voice  "Here  are  Indians!"  "Here  are  Indians!'' 
Three  Indians  had  gotten  in  through  the  gate  on  Soledad 
street  and  were  making  direct  for  the  river!  One  had 
paused  near  Jinny  Anderson,  our  cook,  who  stood  brave- 
ly in  front  of  the  children,  mine  and  hers,  with  a  great 
rock  lifted  in  both  hands  above  her  head,  and  I  heard 
her  cry  out  to  the  Indian  "If  you  don't  go  'way  from 
here  I'll  mash  your  head  with  this  rock!"  The  Indian 
seemed  regretful  that  he  hadn't  time  to  dispatch  Jinny 
and  her  brood,  but  his  time  was  short,  and  pausing 
but  a  moment,  he  dashed  down  the  bank  into  the  river, 
and  struck  out  for  the  opposite  shore. 

As  the  Indian  hurried  down  the  bank  and  into  the  river 
Andrew  shot  and  killed  him,  and  shot  another  as  he  gain- 
ed and  rose  on  the  opposite  bank, — then  he  ran  off  up 
Soledad  street  looking  for  more  Indians. 

I  housed  my  little  ones,  and  then  looked  out  of  the  Sole- 
dad  Street  door.  Near  by  was  stretched  an  Indian, 
wounded  and  dying.  A  large  man,  journey-apprentice  to 
Mr.  Higginbotham,  came  up  just  then  and  aimed  a  pistol 
at  the  Indian's  head.  I  called  out:  "Oh,  don't,  he  is 
dying,"  and  the  big  American  laughed  and  said:  "To 
please  you,  I  won't,  but  it  would  put  him  out  of  his 
misery."  Then  I  saw  two  others  lying  dead  near  by. 

Captain  Lysander  Wells,  about  this  time,  passed  by  rid- 


34  MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK 

ing  north  on  Soledad  Street.  He  was  elegantly  dressed  and 
mounted  on  a  gaily  caparisoned  Mexican  horse  with  silver 
mounted  saddle  and  bridle — which  outfit  he  had  secured 
to  take  back  to  his  native  state,  on  a  visit  to  his  mother. 
As  he  reached  the  Verimendi  House,  an  Indian  who  had 
escaped  detection,  sprang  up  behind  him,  clasped  Wells' 
arms  in  his  and  tried  to  catch  hold  of  the  bridle  reins. 
Wells  was  fearless  and  active.  They  struggled  for  some 
time,  bent  back  and  forward,  swayed  from  side  to  side, 
till  at  last  Wells  held  the  Indian's  wrists  with  his  left 
hand,  drew  his  pistol  from  the  holster,  partly  turned,  and 
fired  into  the  Indian's  body — a  moment  more  and  the  In- 
dian rolled  off  and  dropped  dead  to  the  ground.  Wells 
then  put  spurs  to  his  horse  which  had  stood  almost 
still  during  the  struggle,  dashed  up  the  street  and 
did  good  service  in  the  pursuit.  I  had  become  so  fascinat- 
ed by  this  struggle  that  I  had  gone  into  the  street  almost 
breathless,  and  wholly  unconscious  of  where  I  was,  till  re- 
called by  the  voice  of  Lieutenant  Chavallier  who  said: 
"Are  you  crazy?  Go  in  or  you  will  be  killed."  I  went 
in  but  without  feeling  any  fear,  though  the  street  was  al- 
most deserted  and  my  husband  and  brother  both  gone  in 
the  fight.  I  then  looked  out  on  Commerce  street  and  saw 
four  or  five  dead  Indians.  I  was  just  twenty-two  then, 
and  was  endowed  with  a  fair  share  of  curiosity. 

Not  till  dark  did  all  our  men  get  back,  and  I  was  grate- 
ful to  God,  indeed,  to  see  my  husband  and  brother  back 
alive  and  not  wounded. 

Captain  Mat  Caldwell,  or  "Old  Paint,"  as  he  was 
familiarly  called,  our  guest  from  Gonzales,  was  an  old 
and  famous  Indian  fighter.  He  had  gone  from  our  house 
to  the  Council  Hall  unarmed.  But  when  the  fight  began, 
he  wrenched  a  gun  from  an  Indian  and  killed  him  with  it, 
and  beat  another  to  death  with  the  butt  end  of  the  gun. 
He  was  shot  through  the  right  leg,  wounded  as  he  thought 
by  the  first  volley  of  the  soldiers.  After  breaking  the  gun, 
he  then  fought  with  rocks,  with  his  back  to  the  Court 
House  wall. 

Young  G.  W.  Cayce  had  called  on  us  that  morning, 


w^ 

i4t*4i. 
.    &<^ 
£  /^  **t  v.4. 


PAGE    OF   MARY    A    MAVERICK'S    MEMOIRS 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  35 

bringing  an  introductory  letter  from  his  father  to  Mr. 
Maverick,  and  placing  some  papers  in  his  charge.  He  was 
a  very  pleasant  and  handsome  young  man  and  it  was  re- 
ported, came  to  marry  Gertrudes  Navarro,  Mrs.  Dr.  Alls- 
bury's  sister.  He  left  our  house  when  I  did,  I  going  to 
Mrs.  Higginbotham's  and  he  to  the  Council  Hall.  He 
stood  in  the  front  door  of  the  Court  House,  was  shot  and 
instantly  killed  at  the  beginning  of  the  fight,  and  fell  by 
the  side  of  Captain  Caldwell.  The  brother  of  this  young 
man  afterwards  told  me  he  had  left  home  with  premoni- 
tion of  his  death  being  very  near.  Captain  Caldwell  was 
assisted  back  to  our  house  and  Dr.  Weideman  came  and 
cut  off  his  boot  and  found  the  bullet  had  gone  entirely 
through  the  leg,  and  lodged  in  the  boot,  where  it  was 
discovered.  The  wound,  though  not  dangerous,  was  very 
painful,  but  the  doughty  Captain  recovered  rapidly  and 
in  a  few  days  walked  about  with  the  aid  of  a  stick. 

After  the  captain  had  been  cared  for,  I  ran  across  to 
Mrs.  Higginbotham's.  Mr.  Higginbotham,  who  was  as 
peaceful  as  a  Quaker  to  all  appearances,  had  been  in  the 
fight  and  had  received  a  slight  wound.  They  could  not  go 
into  their  back  yard,  because  two  Indians  had  taken  re- 
fuge in  their  kitchen,  and  refused  to  come  out  or  surrend- 
er as  prisoners  when  the  interpreter  had  summoned  them. 
A  number  of  young  men  took  counsel  together  that  night, 
and  agred  upon  a  plan.  Anton  Lockmar  and  another  got 
on  the  roof,  and,  about  two  hours  after  midnight  dropped 
a  candlewick  ball  soaked  in  turpentine,  and  blazing, 
through  a  hole  in  the  roof  upon  one  Indian's  head  and  so 
hurt  him  and  frightened  them  both  that  they  opened  the 
door  and  rushed  out — to  their  death.  An  axe  split  open 
the  head  of  one  of  the  Indians  before  he  was  well  out  of 
the  door,  and  the  other  was  killed  before  he  had  gone 
many  steps — thus  the  last  of  the  sixty-five  were  taken. 
The  Indian  women  dressed  and  fought  like  the  men,  and 
could  not  be  told  apart.  As  I  have  said  thirty-three  were 
killed  and  thirty-two  taken  prisoners.  Many  of  them  were 
repeatedly  summoned  to  surrender,  but  numbers  refused 
and  were  killed.  All  had  a  chance  to  surrender,  and 


36  MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEEICK 

every  one  who  offered  or  agreed  to  give  up  was  taken 
prisoner  and  protected. 

What  a  day  of  horrors!  And  the  night  was  as  bad 
which  followed. 

Lieutenant  Thompson,  who  had  been  shot  through  the 
lungs,  was  taken  to  Madam,  Santita's  house,  on  Soledad 
Street,  just  opposite  us,  and  that  night  he  vomited  blood 
and  cried  and  groaned  all  night — I  shall  never  forget 
his  gasping  for  breath  and  his  agonizing  cries.  Dr.  Weide- 
man  sat  by  and  watched  him,  or  only  left  to  see  the 
other  sufferers,  nearby;  no  one  thought  he  would  live 
till  day,  but  he  did,  and  got  to  be  well  and  strong  again, 
and  in  a  few  weeks  walked  out. 

The  captive  Indians  were  all  put  in  the  calaboose  for 
a  few  days  and  while  they  were  there  our  forces  entered 
into  a  twelve  days  truce  with  them — the  captives  acting 
for  their  Nation.  And,  in  accordance  with  the  stipulations 
of  the  treaty,  one  of  the  captives,  an  Indian  woman, 
widow  of  a  chief,  was  released  on  the  20th,  the  day  after 
the  fight.  She  was  given  a  horse  and  provisions  and 
sent  to  her  Nation  to  tell  her  people  of  the  fight  and  its 
result.  She  was  charged  to  tell  them,  in  accordance  with 
the  truce,  to  bring  in  all  their  captives,  known  to  be  fif- 
teen Americans  and  several  Mexicans,  and  exchange  them 
for  the  thirty-two  Indians  held.  She  seemed  eager  to 
effect  this,  and  promised  to  do  her  best.  She  said  she 
would  travel  day  and  night,  and  could  go  and  return 
within  five  days.  The  other  prisoners  thought  she  could 
in  five  days  return  with  the  captives  from  the  tribe.  The 
Americans  said  "very  well  we  give  twelve  days  truce  and 
if  you  do  not  get  back  by  Thursday  night  of  the  28th, 
these  prisoners  shall  be  killed,  for  we  will  know  you  have 
killed  our  captive  friends  and  relatives." 

In  April,  as  I  shall  mention  again,  we  were  informed  by 
a  boy,  named  B.  L.  Webster,  that  when  the  squaw  reached 
her  tribe  and  told  of  the  disaster,  all  the  Comanches 
howled,  and  cut  themselves  with  knives,  and  killed 
horses,  for  several  days.  And  they  took  all  the  American 
captives,  thirteen  in  number,  and  roasted  and  butchered 


MEMOIES  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  37 

them  to  death  with  horrible  cruelties;  that  he  and  a  little 
girl  named  Putman,  five  years  old,  had  been  spared  be- 
cause they  had  previously  been  adopted  into  the  tribe. 
Our  people  did  not,  however,  retaliate  upon  the  captives 
in  our  hands.  The  captive  Indians  were  all  put  into  the 
calaboose,  corner  Market  Street  and  the  public  square 
and  adjoining  the  courthouse,  where  all  the  people  in 
San  Antonio  went  to  see  them.  The  Indians  expected  to 
be  killed,  and  they  did  not  understand  nor  trust  the  kind- 
ness which  was  shown  them  and  the  great  pity  manifested 
toward  them.  They  were  first  removed  to  San  Jose  Mis- 
sion, where  a  company  of  soldiers  was  stationed,  and 
afterwards  taken  to  Camp  "Cook,"  named  after  W-  G. 
Cook,  at  the  head  of  the  river,  and  strictly  guarded  for 
a  time.  But  afterwards  the  strictness  was  relaxed,  and 
they  gradually  all,  except  a  few,  who  were  exchanged, 
escaped  and  returned  to  their  tribe.  They  were  kindly 
treated  and  two  or  three  of  them  were  taken  into  families 
as  domestics,  and  were  taught  some  little,  but  they  too, 
at  last,  silently  stole  away  to  their  ancient  freedom. 


38  MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK 


Chapter  VII. 
DOCTOR  WEIDEMAN. 

HATE  in  the  afternoon  of  the  Indian  fight,  of  the 
19th,  I  visited  Mrs.  Higginbotham's,  as  I  have 
before  stated.  While  I  was  there,  Dr.  Weide- 
man  came  up  to  her  grated  front  window,  and  placed  a 
severed  Indian  head  upon  the  sill.  The  good  doctor  bow- 
ed courteously  and  saying,  "With  your  permission,  Mad- 
am," disappeared.  Soon  after  he  returned  with  another 
bloody  head,  when  he  explained  to  us  that  he  had  viewed 
all  the  dead  Indians,  and  selected  these  two  heads,  male 
and  female,  for  the  skulls,  and  also  had  selected  two  en- 
tire bodies,  male  and  female,  to  preserve  as  specimen 
skeletons.  He  said:  "I  have  been  long  exceedingly  anx- 
ious to  secure  such  specimens — and  now,  ladies,  I  must 
hurry  and  get  a  cart  to  take  them  to  my  house/'  and  off 
he  hurried  all  begimed  with  dirt  and  blood,  (having  been 
with  his  good  horse  one  of  the  foremost  in  pursuit.)  Now 
he  was  exulting  for  the  cause  of  science  in  his  "magnifi- 
cent specimens"  and  before  it  was  quite  dark,  he  came 
with  his  cart  and  its  frightful  load,  took  his  two  heads  and 
disappeared.  His  house  was  the  old  Chaves  place,  on 
the  side  of  Acequia  Street,  (now  Main  Avenue,)  north 
of  Main  Plaza.  Dr.  Weideman,  a  Russian,  was  a  very 
learned  man  of  perhaps  thirty-five  years  of  age,  was  a 
surgeon  and  M.  D.,  spoke  many  living  tongues  and  had 
travelled  very  extensively.  In  former  years,  he  had  buried 
a  lovely  young  wife  and  son,  and  becoming  resless,  had 
sought  and  secured  employment  under  the  Russian  Gov- 
ernment. In  fact  the  Emperor  of  Russia  had  sent  him  to 
Texas  to  find  and  report  anything  and  everything,  vege- 
table and  animal  grown  in  Texas — and  he  had  selected  a 


MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEEICK  39 

worthy  man,  for  Dr.  Weideman  was  a  devotee  to  science. 
He  grew  enthusiastic  over  our  Western  Texas  and  her  cli- 
mate and  constantly  accompanied  the  "Minute  Men"  on 
their  expeditions  and  numerous  surveying  parties. 

Dr.  Weideman  took  the  Indian  heads  and  bodies  to  his 
home  as  I  have  mentioned,  and  put  them  into  a  large 
soap  boiler  on  the  bank  of  the  "esequia,"  or  ditch,  which 
ran  in  front  of  his  premises.  During  the  night  of  the  20th 
he  emptied  the  boiler,  containing  water  and  flesh  from 
the  bones,  into  the  ditch.  Now  this  ditch  furnished  the 
drinking  water  generally  for  the  town.  The  river  and  the 
San  Pedro  Creek,  it  was  understood,  were  for  bathing 
and  washing  purposes,  but  a  city  ordinance  prohibited, 
with  heavy  fines,  the  throwing  of  any  dirt  or  filth  into 
the  ditch — for  it  was  highly  necessary  and  proper  to  keep 
the  drinking  water  pure. 

On  the  21st,  it  dawned  upon  the  dwellers  upon  the 
banks  of  the  ditch  that  the  doctor  had  defiled  their  drink- 
ing water.  "There  arose  a  great  hue  and  cry  and 
all  the  people  crowded  to  the  mayor's  office — the  men 
talked  in  loud  and  excited  tones,  the  women  shrieked 
and  cried — they  rolled  up  their  eyes  in  horror,  they  vomi- 
ted, and  many  thought  they  were  poisoned  and  must  die. 
Dr.Weideman  was  arrested  and  brought  to  trial,  he  was 
overwhelmed  with  abuse,  he  was  called  "diabolo,"  "de- 
monio."  "sin  verguenza,"  etc.,  etc.  He  took  it  quite 
calmly,  told  the  poor  creatures  they  would  not  be  hurt — 
that  the  Indian  poison  had  all  run  off  with  the  water  long 
before  day — paid  his  fine  and  went  off  laughing. 

The  doctor  had  a  Mexican  servant  who  had  been  pretty 
good,  and  lived  with  him  two  years — but  Jose  would 
steal — and  one  day  he  stole  the  doctor's  watch,  a  valu- 
able gold  timepiece.  Dr.  Weideman  after  inquiring  and 
waiting  several  weeks  in  vain,  determined  to  have  his 
watch,  if  he  had  to  use  magic  to  get  it.  He  had  several 
Mexican  men  servants,  for  he  kept  horses,  wild  animals, 
snakes  and  birds  and  also  cultivated  a  fine  garden — with 
wild  flowers,  etc.,  he  satisfied  himself  that  Jose  was 


40  MEMOIES  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

the  thief.  He  invited  several  gentlemen  to  come  to  his 
house  a  certain  evening  about  full  of  the  moon,  and  he 
told  his  servants  that  he  would  summon  the  spirits  to 
point  out  the  thief-  When  the  appointed  time  came,  he 
caused  a  fire  to  be  built  on  the  flat  dirt  roof  of  his  house, 
over  which  he  placed  a  pot  filled  with  liquids.  Hither  he 
brought  his  company  and  the  servants.  He  was  dressed  in 
a  curious  robe  or  gown  covered  with  weird  figures,  and  a 
tall  wonderful  cap  rested  on  his  head.  In  his  hand  he  held 
a  twisted  stick-  with  which  he  stirred  the  liquid  in  the  pot, 
uttering  the  while  words  in  an  unknown  tongue.  He  was 
very  solemn  and  occasionally  he  would  turn  around  slowly 
and  gaze  upward  into  space.  Finally  he  told  all  present 
that  he  would  put  out  the  fire,  and  cool  the  liquid,  and 
then  each  person  in  turn  should  dip  his  hand  in,  and  the 
thief's  hand  would  turn  black.  Each  one  advanced  in  due 
order  and  submitted  his  hand  to  the  test,  and  after  each 
experiment  the  doctor  would  stir  and  mutter  and  turn 
around  again.  Jose  waited  until  the  very  last,  he  came 
up  quite  unwillingly,  and  when  he  withdrew  his  hand 
from  the  pot  it  was  black.  Jose  was  terribly  frightened, 
he  fell  upon  his  knees  and  acknowledged  the  theft  then 
and  there  and  begged  for  mercy.  The  Doctor  got  his 
watch  back  and  did  not  discharge  Jose,  who  never  after 
stole  again. 

The  Mexicans  when  they  saw  the  doctor  on  the  streets 
would  cross  themselves,  and  avoid  him — they  said  he  was 
leagued  with  the  devil ;  he  claimed  that  the  spirits  of  the 
Indians,  whose  bodies  he  had  dissected,  were  under  his 
enchantment  and  that  he  could  make  them  tell  him  any- 
thing. He  set  his  skeleton  Indians  up  in  his  garden,  in  his 
summer  house,  and  dared  anybody  to  steal  on  his  prem- 
ises. It  is  needless  to  say,  everything  he  had  was  sacred 
from  theft. 

Dr.  Weideman  was  very  good  to  the  sick  and  wounded. 
He  would  not  take  pay  for  his  services,  and  saved  many 
lives  by  his  skill  and  attention.  He  was  universally  re- 
spected and  liked  by  the  Americans.  In  1843  or  '44  he 
was  drowned  in  attempting  to  cross  Peach  Creek,  near 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  41 

Gonzales  when  the  water  was  very  high — his  horse  and 
himself  and  one  other  man  were  carried  down  by  the  rap- 
id current  and  drowned,  whilst  the  others  of  the  party 
barely  escaped. 

During  the  summer  of  this  year,  1840,  Colonel  Henry 
Karnes*  upon  returning  from  Houston  when  yellow  fever 
was  prevailing  there,  was  taken  down  with  yellow  fever. 
The  Colonel  and  Dr.  Weideman  were  great  friends,  and 
the  Doctor  hardly  left  his  room  till  he  was  out  of  danger. 
Karnes  thought  though  his  business  required  him  in  Hous- 
ton, and  contrary  to  the  doctor's  advice,  he  started  back 
before  he  was  strong  enough.  He  travelled  stretched  out 
in  a  light  wagon — took  a  relapse  after  the  first  day  and 
came  back  to  his  friends.  But  his  case  was  now  hopeless, 
and  he  died  from  his  great  imprudence,  and  the  good 
doctor  put  on  the  deepest  mourning  for  his  friend. 
Colonel  Karnes  was  a  short,  thick-set  man  with  bright  red 
hair.  While  he  was  uneducated,  he  was  modest,  gener- 
ous and  devoted  to  his  friends.  He  was  brave  and  un- 
tiring and  a  terror  to  the  Indians.  They  called  him  "Capi- 
tan  Colorado"  (Red  Captain)  and  spoke  of  him  as  "Muy 
Wapo"  (very  brave.)  Four  or  five  years  before  he  died, 
he  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Comanches,  and  the  squaws 
so  greatly  admired  his  hair  of  "fire"  that  they  felt  it  and 
washed  it  to  see  if  it  would  fade ;  and,  when  they  found 
the  color  held  fast,  they  would  not  be  satisfied  until  each 
had  a  lock. 


*Karnes  came  from  Tennessee  and  joined  the  Texas  forces  at  Conception  '35, 
while  very  young.  Yoakum  refers  to  an  amusing  incident  of  this  same  battle. 
"One  who  was  often  with  him,  (Karnes),  and  by  his  side  at  Conception,  says  he 
never  knew  him  to  swear  before  or  since  that  day.  But  when  he  came  into  th« 
lines,  after  being  shot  at  so  often,  and  began  to  load  his  rifle,  he  exclaimed  with 
some  wrath,  'The  d — > — d  rascals  have  shot  out  the  bottom  of  my  powder  horn.' 
Karnes  was  quit©  sober  and  temperate  ...  he  had  remarkable  gentleness  and. 
delicacy  of  feeling." 


4:2  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 


Chapter  VIII. 

COMANCHES  AND  A  DUEL. 

v— -j-^SIMANICA.     Several    incidents     occurred    soon 
after  the  fight  of  the  19th,  which,  together  with 
^m. ^  other  incidents  much  later,  I  will  narrate. 

On  March  28th  between  two  hundred  and  fifty  and 
three  hundred  Comanches  under  a  dashing  young  chief, 
Isimanica,  came  close  to  the  edge  of  the  town  where  the 
main  body  halted  and  chief  Isimanica  with  another  war- 
rior rode  daringly  into  the  public  square,  and  circled 
around  it,  then  rode  some  distance  down  Commerce  Street 
and  back,  shouting  all  the  while,  offering  fight  and  heap- 
ing abuse  and  insults  upon  the  Americans.  Isimanica  was 
in  full  war  paint,  and  almost  naked.  He  stopped  longest 
at  Black's  saloon,  at  the  north  east  corner  of  the  square ; 
he  shouted  defiance,  he  rose  in  his  stirrups,  shook  his 
clenched  fist,  raved,  and  foamed  at  the  mouth.  The 
citizens,  through  an  interpreter,  told  him  the  soldiers  were 
all  down  the  river  at  Mission  San  Jose  and  if  he  went 
there  Colonel  Fisher  would  give  him  fight  enough. 

Isimanica  took  his  braves  to  San  Jose,*  and  with  fear- 
less daring  bantered  the  soldiers  for  a  fight.  Colonel  Fish- 
er was  lying  on  a  sick  bed  and  Captain  Redd,  the  next  in 
rank,  was  in  command.  He  said  to  the  chief :  "We  have 

made  a  twelve  day  truce  with  your  people  in  order  to  ex- 
change prisoners.  My  country's  honor  is  pledged,  as  well 
as  my  own,  to  keep  the  truce,  and  I  will  not  break  it. 


*Mission  San  Jos§,  (St.  Joseph),  or  Second  Mission,  named  also  for  the  Gov- 
ernor of  the  province  of  Texas  at  the  time,  "de  Aguayo,"  was  founded  in  1720 — 
and  completed  about  1730  the  same  year  Mission  Concption  was  begun. 

San  Jose  is  said  by  many  to  be  the  most  beautiful  of  all  the  Missions  in  this 
country — though  it  has  been  badly  neglected,  and  the  wonderful  carvings  broken 
and  defaced  by  relic  hunters. 

The  South  window  of  the  Baptistry  is  considered  by  good  judges  the  finest  gem 
of  architectural  ornamentation  existing  in  America  today."  Wm.  Corner  S.  A. 
de  Bexar.  (See  cover  sketch.) 


LEWIS    ANTONIO    MAVERICK 


MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEEICK  43 

Remain  here  three  days  or  return  in  three  days  and  the 
truce  will  be  over.  We  burn  to  fight  you."  Isimanica 
called  him  liar,  coward  and  other  opprobrious  names, 
and  hung  around  for  some  time,  but  at  last  the  Indians 
left  and  did  not  return.  Captain  Redd  remained  calm 
and  unmoved,  but  his  men  could  with  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty be  restrained,  and  in  fact  some  of  them  were  ordered 
into  the  Mission  church  and  the  door  guarded. 

When  Captain  Lysander  Wells,  a  non-commissioned  of- 
ficer, who  was  in  town,  heard  of  it,  he  wrote  Captain  Redd 
an  insulting  letter  in  which  he  called  him  a  "dastardly 
coward,"  and  alluded  to  a  certain  "petticoat  goverment" 
under  which  he  intimated  the  Captain  was  restrained. 
This  allusion  had  reference  to  a  young  woman  who, 
dressed  in  boy's  apparel,  had  followed  Redd  from  Georgia 
and  was  now  living  with  him.  This  letter  of  Wells'  was 
signed,  much  to  their  shame,  by  several  others  in  San  An- 
tonio. About  this  time  Colonel  Fisher  removed  his  entire 
force  of  three  companies  to  the  Alamo  in  San  Antonio; 
Redd  challenged  Wells  to  mortal  combat,  and  one  morn- 
ing at  six  o'clock  they  met  where  the  Ursuline  Convent 
now  stands.  Redd  said :  "I  aim  for  your  heart,"  and  Wells 
answered:  "And  I  for  your  brains."  They  fired.  Redd 
sprang  high  into  the  air  and  fell  dead  with  a  bullet  in  his 
brain.  Wells  was  shot  near  the  heart,  but  lived  two  weeks, 
in  great  torture,  begging  every  one  near  him  to  dispatch 
him,  or  furnish  him  a  pistol  that  he  might  kill  himself  and 
end  his  agony;  Dr.  Weideman  nursed  him  tenderly.  In 
Captain  Redd's  pocket  was  found  a  marriage  license  and 
certificate  showing  that  he  was  wedded  to  the  girl  (be- 
fore mentioned) — also  letters  to  members  of  his  own  and 
her  families,  speaking  of  her  in  the  tenderest  manner, 
and  asking  them  to  protect  and  provide  for  her.  She  was 
heartbroken  and  went  to  his  funeral  in  black  .  .  and 
soon  returned  to  her  family. 

These  men  were  both  brave  and  tried  soldiers !  What 
a  sad  ending  to  their  young  and  promising  lives,  and  that 
too,  when  cruel  and  relentless  savages  daily  committed 
atrocities  about  us. 


44  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

Captives.  Matilda  Lockhart,  who  came  in  as  I  have 
mentioned,  on  March  19th,  had  been  about  two  years  in 
captivity.  When  she  was  captured,  two  of  her  family 
were  slain,  and  she  and  her  little  sister  were  taken  pris- 
oners. At  that  time  she  was  thirteen  and  her  sister  not 
three  years  of  age.  They  were  taken  off  to  the  tribe. 
Just  before  her  release,  she  came  along  with  the  Indian 
party,  as  a  herder,  driving  a  herd  of  extra  ponies  for  the 
Indians.  The  Indians  thus  could  exchange  their  horses 
from  time  to  time  for  fresher  ones. 

She  was  in  a  frightful  condition,  poor  girl,  when  at  last 
she  returned  to  civilization.  Her  head,  arms  and  face  were 
full  of  bruises,  and  sores,  and  her  nose  actually  burnt  off 
to  the  bone — all  the  fleshy  end  gone,  and  a  great  scab 
formed  on  the  end  of  the  bone.  Both  nostrils  were  wide 
open  and  denuded  of  flesh.  She  told  a  piteous  tale  of 
how  dreadfully  the  Indians  had  beaten  her,  and  how  they 
would  wake  her  from  sleep  by  sticking  a  chunk  of  fire 
to  her  flesh,  especially  to  her  nose,  and  how  they  would 
shout  and  laugh  like  fiends  when  she  cried.  Her  body 
had  many  scars  from  fire,  many  of  which  she  showed  us. 
Ah,  it  was  sickening  to  behold,  and  made  one's  blood  boil 
for  vengeance. 

Matilda  was  now  fifteen  years  old,  and,  though  glad 
to  be  free  from  her  detested  tyrants,  she  was  very  sad  and 
broken  hearted.  She  said  she  felt  utterly  degraded,  and 
could  never  hold  her  head  up  again — that  she  would  be 
glad  to  get  back  home  again,  where  she  would  hide  away 
and  never  permit  herself  to  be  seen.  How  terrible 
to  comtemplate !  Yet  her  case  was  by  no  means  solitary. 
She  told  of  fifteen  other  American  captives,  all  children, 
then  in  the  Nation,  and  two  adopted  captives,  her  little 
sister  and  Booker  Webster.  After  a  few  days,  Matilda's 
brother  came  and  took  her  home. 

On  March  26th,  Mrs.  Webster  came  in  with  her  three 
year  old  child  on  her  back.  This  poor  miserable  being 
was  hailed  by  the  excited  Mexicans  as  "India,"  "India," 
as  she  trudged  along  to  the  center  of  the  town.  She  came 
into  the  Public  Square  from  the  west,  and  was  dressed  as 


MEMOIKS  OF  MAKY  A.  MAVEBICK  45 

an  Indian  in  buckskin.  Like  the  Indians,  her  hair  was  cut 
short  and  square  upon  her  forehead,  and  she  was  sun- 
burned and  as  dark  as  a  Comanche. 

She  called  out  in  good  English,  however,  and  said  she 
had  escaped  from  Indian  captivity.  She  was  taken  into 
John  W.  Smith's  house,  and  we  American  ladies  soon 
gathered  there  to  see  her  and  attend  her  wants.  She  said 
she  was  very  tired  and  hungry  and  appeared  much  ex- 
hausted. After  listening  to  a  part  of  her  story,  Mrs. 
Smith  gave  her  some  food,  which  she  and  her  little  one 
ate  in  a  famished  manner.  Five  of  us  ladies,  Mrs.  Jac- 
ques, Mrs.  Elliott,  Mrs.  Smith,  Mrs.  Higginbotham  and 
myself,  agreed  to  unite  in  caring  for  the  unhappy  fugi- 
tives. We  got  her  some  clothing,  and,  having  prepared  a 
bath,  we  helped  her  to  undress  and  found  her  skin  yet 
fair  and  white  beneath  the  buckskin.  We  bathed  and 
clothed  her  and  left  her  to  sleep  and  rest. 

The  stench  of  the  poor  woman's  clothes  was  so  dread- 
ful, while  we  were  undressing  her,  that  Mrs.  Jacques 
fainted  away,  and  Mrs.  Smith  told  me  to  get  a  bottle  of 
cologne  on  her  mantel  in  the  adjoining  room.  I  picked  up 
the  only  bottle  there,  and  hastily  sprinkled  the  contents 
on  Mrs.  Jacques's  face,  which  caused  her  to  revive  instant- 
ly, and  she  screamed :  "Stop,  stop,  that  is  pepper  vinegar!,* 
And  so  it  was  indeed,  and  had  gotten  into  one  of  her  eyes, 
whereupon  Mrs.  Jacques  was  accused  of  "playing  'pos- 
sum," and  we  had  a  great  laugh.  Mrs.  Webster  remain- 
ed a  week  with  Mrs.  Smith,  a  week  with  Mrs.  Jacques 
and  two  weeks  with  us.  She  was  treated  with  great  kind- 
ness by  every  one,  and  money  and  clothes  given  her.  Her 
story  was  as  follows : — 

She  came  from  Virginia  to  Texas  early  in  1838  with 
her  husband,  who  she  claimed,  was  a  relative  of  Daniel 
Webster.  They  built  a  house  northwest  of  Austin,  and 
in  August  of  that  year  her  husband  was  removing  her 
and  her  four  children  to  this  wild  home — -they  had  also 
in  the  party  two  negroes  and  one  white  man.  One  eve- 
ning they  camped  on  Brushy  Creek,  not  far  north  of  Aus- 
tin, when  a  large  party  of  Comanches  suddenly  attacked 


46  MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK 

them.  Their  three  men  fought  bravely,  but  were  over- 
powered and  killed.  Mrs.  Webster's  infant  was  taken 
from  her  arms,  and  its  brains  dashed  out  on  a  tree  and  her 
second  child  was  killed.  She  and  her  eldest  boy  of  ten 
years,  Brooker  Webster,  were  tied  upon  horses,  and  she 
held  her  child  of  two  years  so  tightly  and  plead  for  it  so 
piteously,  that  the  Indians  left  it  with  her.  They  were 
taken  by  rapid  marches  to  the  mountains,  where  they 
stripped  Booker  and  shaved  his  head.  He  was  attacked 
with  brain  fever,  and  an  old  squaw,  who  had  just  lost  a 
son  of  his  age,  adopted  him  and  nursed  him  very  tenderly. 
The  Indians  allowed  Mrs.  Webster  to  keep  her  little  girl, 
but  prohibited  her  from  talking  with  her  son.  They  made 
her  cook,  and  stake  out  ponies,  and  they  beat  her  very 
badly.  She  had  been  nineteen  months  in  captivity  when 
she  seized  a  favorable  opportunity  to  escape.  It  was  one 
night  after  a  long  day's  march  when,  having  learned  the 
general  direction  of  San  Antonio,  she  quietly  and  noise- 
lessly slipped  out  of  camp  with  her  child  in  her  arms, 
and  bent  her  steps  toward  Bexar.  She  spent  twelve  terri- 
ble days  on  the  road  without  meeting  a  human  being- 
sustaining  herself  all  this  while  on  berries,  small  fish 
which  she  caught  in  the  streams,  and  bones  left  at  Indian 
camps,  which  she  followed,  hiding  and  sleeping  in  the 
day,  and  travelling  at  night  by  moon  and  starlight.  She 
several  times  gave  up  to  die,  but  gathering  courage  and 
determination,  she  would  trudge  on.  The  early  morning  of 
the  26th  she  lay  down  despairing  on  a  hillside  in  a  fog, 
not  able  to  drag  one  foot  after  the  other.  When  the  sun 
shone  out,  looking  to  the  east  she  saw  a  "golden  cross 
shining  in  the  sky!"  Then  she  knew  her  prayers  had  been 
answered  and  that  cross  surmounted  the  Cathedral  of  San 
Fernando  in  San  Antonio.  She  said  she  felt  her  weariness 
melt  away  and  she  grew  strong  and  hopeful  and  again 
took  up  the  march  with  a  thankful  heart.  She  was  about 
thirty-two  years  old. 

April  3rd.  Two  Indians,  a  chief  and  a  squaw,  the  man 
with  his  bow  strung  and  arrows  in  his  hand,  came  into 
the  public  square  and,  remaining  mounted,  called  out  to 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  47 

the  Americans  that  about  twenty  warriors  were  holding 
all  the  American  and  Mexican  captives  three  miles  from 
town,  and  that  they  were  prepared  to  make  the  exchange 
proposed  or  agreed  upon  in  the  twelve  days'  truce. 
The  Amerirans  sent  scouts,  who  reported  the  Indians 
to  be  numerous  and  the  captives  few.  Two  companies  of 
soldiers  and  nine  captive  Indians  were  ordered  up  from 
San  Jose.  The  Americans  declined  to  go  with  the  chief 
to  the  Indian  camp,  but  they  gave  him  bread,  peloncillos 
and  a  beef  and  agreed  to  talk  "manana,"  (tomorrow.) 

On  the  4th,  the  chief  returned  and  asked  the  Americans 
to  take  out  two  captives  and  exchange  for  two,  and  the 
answer  was:  "Bring  two  captives  to  the  edge  of  town 
and  we  will  meet  you."  They  came  with  a  little  Ameri- 
can girl,  Putman's  child,  and  a  Mexican  boy,  and  received 
two  Indians.  The  Americans  being  desirous  of  securing 
all  the  captives,  not  knowing  they  were  murdered,  asked 
why  they  did  not  bring  American  captives,  and  the  In- 
dians answered  they  had  only  one  more  with  them,  and 
if  they  gave  him  up  they  wished  to  choose  a^  Indian  in 
exchange.  The  boy  proved  to  be  B.  L.  Webster,  "Book- 
er," the  son  of  Mrs.  Webster  mentioned  above,  and  they 
brought  a  Mexican  boy  with  him  and  said  these  were  all 
they  had  with  them.  The  chief  selected  in  exchange  for 
Webster  a  squaw  whose  arm  had  been  broken  in  the  fight 
of  the  19th.  When  asked  why  he  chose  her,  he  answered 
she  was  the  widow  of  a  great  chief  who  had  been  killed 
in  the  fight,  and  he  wanted  her  for  his  squaw,  because  she 
owned  "muchas  mules,"  "muchas  mules."  The  squaw 
did  not  seem  t<?  relish  this  and  so  the  Americans  would 
not  let  him  take  her,  but  selected  another  woman,  and  a 
child,  and  threw  in  a  blind  Indian.  The  chief  was  not 
pleased,  but  departed  with  what  he  could  get. 

Thus  we  got  back  two  American  and  five  Mexican 
captives.  Booker  Webster's  head  was  shaved  and  he  was 
painted  in  Indian  style.  One  of  the  Mexicans  ran  away 
some  time  afterwards  and  returned  to  the  Indians.  The 
girl,  Putman,  was  five  years  old,  and  cried  to  go  back  to 
the  Comanche  mother  who  had  adopted  her,  probably  in 


48  MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEEICK 

her  second  year.  She  could  not  speak  or  understand 
English,  and  had  many  bruises  and  her  nose  was  burnt 
partly  off.  The  boy,  Booker,  then  told  us,  and  we  learnt 
for  the  first  time,  how  the  Comanches  had  murdered  the 
captives  in  their  hands  when  they  received  the  message 
borne  to  them  by  the  squaw. 

The  Indians  used  the  Spanish  language  a  great  deal, 
but  they  never  tried  to  acquire  any  knowledge  of  the 
English  tongue.  This  summer,  1840,  the  Indians  were  con- 
stantly stealing  and  murdering.  Travel  was  especially 
unsafe,  except  when  the  company  was  large,  and  even 
then  it  was  advisable  to  travel  by  night  and  camp  by  day, 
always  keeping  a  sharp  lookout. 

Indian  Raid  to  Lavaca  Bay.  Early  in  August,  a  band 
of  about  three  hundred  warriors  suddenly  appeared  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Victoria,  having  escaped  detection 
on  their  route  down  the  country.  On  the  6th,  they  ap- 
peared there  in  force.  Circling  around  Victoria,  they 
passed  on  to  Linnville,  a  small  town  on  Lavaca  Bay,  one 
and  a  quarter  miles  below  the  present  site  of  Lavaca. 
Linnville  was  a  very  small  town  in  which  was  located  a 
Custom  House  and  a  few  stores.  When  the  Indians 
charged  into  the  town,  most  of  the  citizens  took  refuge 
on  the  boats  anchored  near,  and  thus  escaped.  Some  were 
not  quick  enough,  and  were  cut  off  and  killed,  and  two 
ladies  and  a  boy  were  taken  prisoners.  The  Indians  found 
large  quantities  of  goods  stored  at  Linnville  which  they 
loaded  upon  pack  animals,  and  even  upon  their  riding 
horses.  They  spent  the  whole  day  there,  and  burnt  all  the 
houses  and  everything  they  could  not  carry  off.  Mean- 
while, runners  had  been  sent  out  of  Victoria  to  warn  the 
settlers,  and  for  the  purpose  of  summoning  volunteers  to 
intercept  the  Indians'  return  to  the  mountains.  The  call 
was  responded  to  from  every  valley  and  settlement.  From 
the  Colorado  to  the  Guadalupe  and  beyond,  volunteers 
gathered,  under  McColloch,  Lynn,  Caldwell,  Ed  Burles- 
on,  Moore  and  others.  Scouts  who  followed  close  upon 
their  trail  told  of  whole  bolts  of  ribbon,  muslin  and  calico 
streaming  to  the  air  from  the  saddles  of  the  savages.  On 


MEMOIBS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  49 

Phm  Creek,  a  branch  of  the  San  Marcos,  August  18th, 
they  were  at  last  surrounded,  retreat  cut  off  and  they 
forced  to  fight.  The  Texas  forces,  under  general 
Felix  Houston,  had  been  gathering  for  one  grand  blow. 
The  combat  was  remarkable  for  the  terrible  slaughter 
of  the  Indians.  The  battle  ground  extended  over  a  dis- 
tance of  fifteen  miles,  for  it  was  a  running  fight.  None 
of  the  Texans  were  killed,  and  the  Indians  were  so  com- 
pletely crushed  by  this  defeat  that  they  never  dared  to 
raid  into  that  section  again. 

When  they  found  they  would  lose  the  fight,  the  Indians 
lanced  and  shot  arrows  into  their  captives,  who  were  tied 
to  trees,  and  left  them  for  dead,  but  Mrs.  Watts  recovered 
and  returned  to  her  friends.  The  capture  of  Mrs.  Watts 
illustrates  how  vitally  important  a  few  moments  of  time 
may  become.  Mr.  Watts  had  married  this  lady  only  a 
few  weeks  before  the  Comanches  burned  Linnville,  and 
had  presented  her  with  an  elegant  gold  watch  and  chain. 
After  starting  to  run  for  the  boats,  Mrs.  Watts  thought 
she  would  secure  her  watch  first,  ran  back  into  the  house, 
and  got  it,  accompanied  by  her  husband.  Having  secured 
the  trinket,  they  attempted  to  reach  the  boats,  but  some 
mounted  Indians  had  cut  them  off.  Watts  was  tomahaw- 
ed,  and  his  wife  taken  captive.  She  afterwards  married 
again  to  a  Mr.  Staunton,  I  am  told,  and  died  at  Lavaca  in 
1878. 

Now,  why  have  I  mentioned  this  raid?  Well  you  shall 
hear.  On  April  21st,  Mr.  Maverick  had  left  for  New  Or- 
leans and  returned  in  June  by  the  way  of  Houston.  He  had 
only  got  home  a  week  before  this,  and  had  intended  to 
come  by  Lavaca,  but  was  detained.  He  however,  shipped 
by  way  of  Linnville,  goods,  stores  and  a  supply  of  clothing 
material  for  two  years  ahead,  and  unfortunately  for  us 
the  goods  were  stored  in  Linnville  when  the  Indians  sack- 
ed the  place.  Mr-  Maverick  had  purchased  a  supply  of 
whiskey  and  brandy  to  be  used  on  surveying  expeditions 
— it  being  the  custom  for  those  having  surveying  done  to 
furnish  the  liquor.  He  had  purchased  for  me  a  silver,  soup 
ladle,  twelve  table  and  twelve  tea  spoons;  the  spoons 


50  MEMOIES  OF  MABY  A.  MAVEEICK 

we  had  travelled  out  with  were  only  plated  ware.  He  had 
also  a  number  of  law  books  with  the  other  things.  These 
law  books  were  the  only  things  we  ever  heard  from,  and 
what  he  heard  was  this :  they  were  strung  to  the  Indians' 
saddles  by  strings  run  through  the  volumes,  and  used  for 
making  cigarettes.* 

I  shall  not  mention  the  thousand  and  one  incidents 
which  happened  in  connection  with  the  Comanches  in 
and  about  San  Antonio  from  1838  until  1842,  when  we  be- 
came refugees.  They  made  life  very  unsafe  on  the  fron- 
tier and  during  the  period  mentioned  they  were  always 
within  dangerous  proximity  to  us  and  always  doing  some 
of  their  devilment. 

However  I  will  mention  one  or  two  more  incidents  be- 
fore I  bid  them  adieu.  On  May  27th,  thirty  or  forty 
Comanches  came  close  to  town,  and  being  early  discover- 
ed, they  were  hotly  pursued  by  the  "Minute  Men."  They 
fled  to  the  nearest  timber  on  the  Medina,  where,  dark- 
ness overtaking  them,  they  speared  all  their  horses  and 
took  to  the  bottom  on  foot.  In  the  morning,  the  dead 
horses  were  found  but  the  Indians  had  escaped- 

The  Indians  were  always  lurking  around  in  small  bodies 
hiding  close  to  town,  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  strike 
without  danger  to  themselves.  We  were  compelled  to 
learn  this  through  many  murders  and  robberies.  They 
would  suddenly  appear  from  the  river  bottom,  from  be- 
hind a  clump  of  trees,  from  a  gully,  and  sometimes  from 
the  tall  grass.  It  seemed  they  were  always  on  the  watch 
everywhere,  but  only  acted  at  the  most  favorable 
moments. 

In  the  spring  of  1841,  Mrs.  Elliott  and  I  set  out  up  the 
river  to  gather  dewberries.  They  grew  in  great  abundance 
where  the  Ursuline  Convent  now  stands.*  Mr.  Elliott  sent 
his  two  clerks,  Peter  Gallagher  and  John  Conran,  Mrs.  El- 
liott's brother,  along,  they  being  well  armed.  We  with 
my  son  Sam  and  Billy  Elliott  and  the  two  nurses  Rachael 
and  Julia,  took  our  buckets  and  started  up  directly  after 


*Which    shows    what    respect    the    Indians    had    for    Blackstone    and    the    law. 
G.   M.  M. 

*Then   a  wild-wood.     Mary  A.  Maverick. 


CANVAS   BATH-HOUSE    ON    SAN    ANTONIO   RIVEK 


MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEEICK  51 

dinner.  We  found  a  great  abundance  of  ripe  luscious 
berries,  ate  all  we  wanted,  filled  our  buckets,  had  a  first- 
rate  time  and  started  home  alright.  We  met  just  after 
we  left  the  bend  of  the  river  a  Mexican  cartman  going 
out  to  hopple  his  oxen  on  the  fine  grass  we  had  just  pass- 
ed over.  We  had  gone  only  a  few  hundred  feet  further, 
after  passing  the  Mexican,  when  we  heard  all  around  us 
the  sudden  cry  of  "Indies,"  "Indios."  Soon  the  alarm 
bell  called  to  arms  and  we  ran  quickly  home.  The  cart- 
man we  passed  proved  to  be  the  victim — he  was  kill- 
ed and  scalped  by  the  Comanches,  who  had  been  hiding 
close  to  us  in  the  river  timber  when  we  were  gathering  the 
berries  and  having  our  good  time  just  before.  Our  two 
armed  guards  on  the  watch  had  saved  our  lives.  The  In- 
dians both  escaped  in  the  dark  and  we  were  grateful 
for  the  foresight  of  Mr.  Elliott,  and  we  learned  a  lesson 
never  forgotten,  for  our  foolhardy  venturing. 


52  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 


Chapter  IX. 

FAMILY  HISTORY  RESUMED. 
'R.  Maverick  was  a  most  earnest  and  enthusiastic 
idmirer  of  Western  Texas,  and  firm  believer  in 
her  future.  He  was  constantly  in  ecstasies  over 
the  beautiful  valleys,  the  rich  soil,  the  charming  climate. 
Often  he  would  speak  in  glowing  terms  of  the  magnifi- 
cent expanses  of  fertile  hill  and  dale.  What  a  grand  home 
for  the  toilers  of  Europe,  he  would  say.  Along  with  his 
admiration,  came  the  spirit  of  speculation  in  land — all 
men  of  strong  imagination  speculated  deeply  in  land  in 
those  days.  So  brilliant  and  so  realistic  were  his  visions 
of  the  future,  that  in  his  mind's  eye  the  future,  ah,  the 
far  distant  future,  became  the  tomorrow  of  the  dreamer. 
Tomorrow  they  will  come — tomorrow  the  overcrowded  of 
the  cities,  the  wearied  sons  of  toil  will  come,  and  will 
build  up  this  magnificient  country  into  a  grand  empire. 
But  the  future  came  not  to  him — in  his  lifetime  he  saw 
the  toilers  come  across  the  sea,  but  they  came  not  toTex- 
as;  they  settled  in  the  great  North  West,  and  there  they 
built  up  the  empires  of  which  he  had  prophesied. 

Mr.  Maverick  took  the  greatest  delight  in  the  surveying 
camp.  He  purchased  many  thousands  of  acres  of  land 
certificates,  and  he  was  out  much  of  the  time  locating  and 
surveying  lands  for  himself  and  for  friends,  or  at  least 
planning  expeditions.  I  will  tell  of  a  trip  he  made  in  the 
fall  of  1839.  He  fitted  out  the  party  and  went,  accord- 
ing to  my  best  recollection,  to  the  Medina  and  San  Geroni- 
mo.  Before  they  started,  Mexicans  killed  and  jerked 
beef*  at  our  place,  and  they  had  a  busy  time  packing  the 

*  Jerked  beef:  many  an  old  timer  'declares  to  this  day  that  the  flavor  of  beef 
cut  in  thin  strips  and  sun  dried,  can  not  be  equalled.  Not  only  was  meat  "jerked" 
to  prepare  it  for  long  marches,  but  kitchen  doors  of  the  early  days  were  some- 
times supplied  with  iron  hooks  upon  which  newly  purchased  steaks  were  hung 
and  cooked  in  the  hot  sun  School  girls  and  boys  of  the  60's  relished  "jerked" 
beef  in  their  lunch  boxes. 


MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  53 

animals  the  day  they  started.  Mr.  Lapham,  the  deputy 
surveyor,  a  nice  gentleman  from  Vermont,  spent  a  week  at 
our  house,  waiting  for  the  preparations  to  be  completed. 
When  they  departed,  I  exacted  from  my  husband  the 
promise  that  he  would  return  on  a  certain  day.  He  kept 
his  word,  although  the  work  was  not  completed — he 
came  in  accordance  with  his  promise,  and  brought  with 
him  one  or  two  of  the  party.  The  very  night  after  he  left 
the  camp,  the  Indians  surprised  the  camp  and  killed  every 
one,  save  one  chain  bearer,  who  escaped  on  a  fine  horse.  A 
party  went  out  to  bury  the  dead  and  found  the  compass 
and  papers  and  some  other  articles. 

1840. 

Mr.  Maverick,  as  I  have  mentioned,  left  us  for  the 
"States"  April,  1840,  and  returned  the  latter  part  of  June. 
He  went  to  Pendleton,  South  Carolina,  when  he  was 
away,  but  he  told  me,  "I  had  not  the  face  to  go  to  Moth- 
er's without  you  and  the  boys — she  would  take  it  so  to 
heart." 

Sept.  16th,  The  Mexicans  celebrated  Dia  de  Inde- 
pendencia."  On  December  12th,  the  Mexicans  celebrated 
in  grand  procession  "Dia  de  Nuestra  Senora  de  Guada- 
lupe,"  the  patroness  saint  of  Mexico  ,  and  whom  the 
priests  had  identified  with  the  Virgin  Mary.  Twelve 
young  girls  dressed  in  spotless  white,  bore  a  platform  on 
which  stood  a  figure  representing  the  saint  very  richly 
and  gorgeously  dressed.  First  came  the  priests  in  proces- 
sion, then  the  twelve  girls  bearing  the  platform,  and  car- 
rying each  in  her  free  hand  a  lighted  wax  candle,  then 
came  fiddlers  behind  them  playing  on  their  violins,  and 
following  the  fiddlers  the  devout  population,  generally, 
firing  off  guns  and  pistols  and  showing  their  devotion  in 
various  ways.  They  proceeded  through  the  squares  and 
some  of  the  principal  streets,  and  every  now  and  then  they 
all  knelt  and  repeated  a  short  prayer — an  ''Ave  Marie"  or 
"Pater  Noster."  Finally  the  procession  stopped  at  the 
Cathedral  of  San  Fernando  on  the  Main  Plaza,  where  a 
long  ceremony  was  had.  Afterwards  the  more  prominent 
families  taking  the  Patroness  along  with  them,  adjourn- 


54  MEMOIES  OF  MARY  A.   MAVEEICK 

ed  to  Mr.  Jose  Flores'  house  on  west  side  of  Military 
Plaza,  where  they  danced  most  of  the  night.  We  were  in- 
vited and  went,  taking  with  us  little  Sammy  with  his  jolly 
golden  curls  and  a  new  suit  of  pea  green.  It  was  all 
quite  a  novel  and  interesting  scene  to  me. 

The  principal  citizens  lived  in  the  plazas  or  within  two 
blocks  of  them  on  Flores,  Acequia,  Soledad,  Commerce 
and  Market  streets.  Very  few  of  the  Mexican  ladies 
could  write  but  they  dressed  nicely  and  were  graceful 
and  gracious  of  manner.  We  exchanged  calls  with  the 
Navarros,  Sotos,  Garzas,  Garcias,  Zambranos,  Seguins, 
Veramendis  and  Yturris. 

December  1840,  Uncle  John  Bradley  brought  his  family 
to  San  Antonio.  They  spent  two  or  three  weeks  with  us 
and  then  moved  into  the  house  formerly  occupied  by  the 
Higginbothams,  who  had  removed  to  the  country.  Annie 
Bradley  was  a  lovely  girl,  very  womanly  and  sweet  tem- 
pered. About  Christmas  we  attended  a  ball  given  at 
Chauncy  Johnston's,  who  had  brought  out  his  family 
some  two  months  before,  and  resided  in  the  Casiano  house. 
Annie  received  great  attention  and  had  a  throng  of  ad- 
mirers. 

About  this  time  Mr.  Gautier,  a  French  merchant,  came 
to  town  with  his  wife  and  child. 

1841. 

We  now  began  to  have  a  society  and  great  sociability 
amongst  ourselves,  the  Americans.  During  the  summer 
1841,  Mr.  Wilson  Riddle  brought  out  his  bride,  and  Mr. 
Moore  his  family.  These  gentlemen  were  both  merchants 
on  Commerce  Street.  Mr.  Campbell  married  a  second  wife 
with  whom  and  her  sister,  Miss  O'Neill,  he  returned  to  San 
Antonio.  Mr.  Davis  opened  a  store  on  Commerce  Street. 
Mr.  John  Twohig  started  a  small  grocery  store  on  corner 
of  Commerce  Street  and  Plaza  Mayor.* 

Mrs.    Jacques   had    a    boarding   house    at    southwest 


*Diaries  were  of  real  use  on  the  frontier  as  records  of  events,  for  the  daily 
paper  did  not  exist,  also  as  the  mail  or  post  was  cent  back  to  the  State*  onry 
once  a  month  diaries  were  useful  as  reminders  of  interesting  happenings  to  be 
chronicled  in  home  letters. 


MEMOIES  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  55 

corner  of  Commerce  and  Yturri — she  had  a  whole  block 
rented  from  Yturri  and  boarded  all  the  nice  young  Ameri- 
cans, and  was  very  hospitable  and  pleasant.  She  was  a 
good  nurse  and  extremely  kind  to  any  sick  or  wounded, 
and  consequently  a  great  favorite  with  the  gentlemen. 
On  Easter  Sunday  of  this  year,  she  invited  all  the  Ameri- 
can families,  and  many  young  gentlemen  to  dine  with  her. 
She  served  her  dinner  at  the  long  room,  (sagnan).  She 
dinner  was  simply  elegant,  the  company  large  and  lively 
and  we  all  enjoyed  the  day  very  much.  In  the  afternoon 
we  promenaded  up  Soledad  Street  in  a  gay  and  happy 
throng. 

Easter  Monday,  April  12th,  1841,  Agatha,  our  first 
daughter  was  born  and  named  for  my  mother.  She  was  a 
very  beautiful  and  good  baby. 

My  mother  talked  of  coming  out  to  visit  us.  Her  idea 
was  that  she  would  come  to  some  port  on  the  coast,  and 
we  would  go  down  at  the  appointed  time  and  meet  her 
there.  But  I  had  too  many  babies  to  make  such  a  journey, 
and  the  risk  from  Indians  was  too  great,  and  we  did  not 
encourage  the  plan.  Her  letters  were  one  month  to  six 
weeks  old  when  we  received  them. 

President  Lamar  with  a  very  considerable  suite  visited 
San  Antonio  in  June.  A  grand  ball  was  given  him  in  Mrs. 
Yturri's  long  room — (all  considerable  houses  had  a  long 
room  for  receptions).  The  room  was  decorated  with  flags 
and  evergreens;  flowers  were  not  much  cultivated  then. 
At  the  ball,  General  Lamar  wore  very  wide  white  pants 
which  at  the  same  time  were  short  enough  to  show  the 
tops  of  his  shoes.  General  Lamar  and  Mrs.  Juan  N.  Se- 
guin,  wife  of  the  Mayor,  opened  the  ball  with  a  waltz. 
Mrs.  Seguin  was  so  fat  that  the  General  had  great  diffi- 
culty in  getting  a  firm  hold  on  her  waist,  and  they  cut  such 
a  figure  that  we  were  forced  to  smile.  The  General  was  a 
poet,  a  polite  and  brave  gentleman  and  first  rate  conver- 
sationalist— but  he  did  not  dance  well. 

At  the  ball,  Hays,  Chevalier,  and  John  Howard  had  but 
one  dress  coat  between  them,  and  they  agreed  to  use  the 
coat  and  dance  in  turn.  The  two  not  dancing  would  stand 


56  MEMOIBS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEBICK 

at  the  hall  door  watching  the  happy  one  who  was  enjoy- 
ing his  turn — and  they  reminded  him  when  it  was  time 
for  him  to  step  out  of  that  coat.  Great  fun  was  it  watch- 
ing them  and  listening  to  their  writ  and  mischief  as  they 
made  faces  and  shook  their  fists  at  the  dancing  one. 

John  D.  Morris,  the  Adonis  of  the  company,  escorted 
Miss  Arceneiga  who  on  that  warm  evening  wore  a  maroon 
cashmere  with  black  plumes  in  her  hair,  and  her  haughty 
airs  did  not  gain  her  any  friends.  Mrs.  Yturri  had  a  new 
silk,  fitting  her  so  tightly  that  she  had  to  wear  corsets  for 
the  first  time  in  her  life.  She  was  very  pretty,  waltzed 
beautifully  and  was  much  sought  as  a  partner.  She  was 
several  times  compelled  to  escape  to  her  bedroom  to  take 
off  the  corset  and  ''catch  her  breath"  as  she  said  to  me 
who  happened  to  be  there  with  my  baby. 

By  the  way,  speaking  of  Mrs.  Yturri,  I  am  reminded  of 
a  party  I  gave  several  months  before  this.  It  blew  a 
freezing  norther  that  day  and  we  had  the  excellent  good 
luck  of  making  some  ice  cream,  which  was  a  grateful  sur- 
prise to  our  guests.  In  fact  those  of  the  Mexicans  present, 
who  had  never  travelled,  tasted  ice  cream  that  evening 
for  the  first  time  in  their  lives,  and  they  all  admired  and 
liked  it.  But  Mrs.  Yturri  ate  so  much  of  it,  tho'  advised 
not  to,  that  she  was  taken  with  cramps.  Mrs.  Jacques 
and  I  took  her  to  my  room  and  gave  her  brandy,  but  in 
vain,  and  she  had  to  be  carried  home.  At  that  party 
some  natives  remained  so  late  in  the  morning  that  we  had 
to  ask  them  to  go.  One  man  of  reputable  standing  carried 
off  a  roast  chicken  in  his  pocket,  another  a  carving  knife, 
and  several  others  took  off  all  the  cake  they  could  well 
conceal,  which  greatly  disgusted  Jinny  Anderson,  the 
cook.  Griffin  followed  the  man  with  the  carving  knife 
and  took  it  away  from  him. 

During  this  summer,  the  American  ladies  led  a  lazy 
life  of  ease.  We  had  plenty  of  books,  including  novels, 
we  were  all  young,  healthy  and  happy  and  were  content 
with  each  others'  society.  We  fell  into  the  fashion  of  the 
climate,  dined  at  twelve,  then  followed  a  siesta,  (nap) 
until  three,  when  we  took  a  cup  of  coffee  and  a  bath. 


MEMOIES  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  57 

Bathing  in  the  river  at  our  place  had  become  rather 
public,  now  that  merchants  were  establishing  themselves 
on  Commerce  Street,  so  we  ladies  got  permission  of  old 
Madame  Tevino,  mother'  of  Mrs.  Lockmar,  to  put  up  a 
bath  house  on  her  premises,  some  distance  up  the  river  on 
Soledad  Street,  afterwards  the  property  and  homestead 
of  the  Jacques  family.  Here  between  two  trees  in  a 
beautiful  shade,  we  went  in  a  crowd  each  afternoon  at 
about  four  o'clock  and  took  the  children  and  nurses  and 
a  nice  lunch  which  we  enjoyed  after  the  bath.  There  we 
had  a  grand  good  time,  swimming  and  laughing,  and 
making  all  the  noise  we  pleased.  The  children  were 
bathed  and  after  all  were  dressed,  we  spread  our  lunch 
and  enjoyed  it  immensely.  The  ladies  took  turns  in  pre- 
paring the  lunch  and  my  aunt  Mrs.  Bradley  took  the  lead 
in  nice  things.  Then  we  had  a  grand  and  glorious  gossip, 
for  we  were  all  dear  friends  and  each  one  told  the  news 
from  our  far  away  homes  in  the  "States,"  nor  did  we  omit 
to  review  the  happenings  in  San  Antonio.  We  joked  and 
laughed  away  the  time,  for  we  were  free  from  care  and 
happy.  In  those  days  there  were  no  envyings,  no  back- 
biting. 

In  September  mother  wrote  she  had  determined  to  visit 
us,  that  she  would  leave  Robert  and  Lizzie  at  school  and 
that  George  would  accompany  her.  William  and  Andrew 
were  then  on  the  San  Marcos.  She  wrote  she  would  set 
out  about  October  first,  and  should  she  like  our  town  she 
would  sell  out  in  Tuskaloosa  and  move  to  San  Antonio. 
That  letter  arrived  late  in  October,  and  soon  after  it  came 
a  letter  from  Professor  Wilson  to  Mr.  Maverick,  and  a 
letter  from  Mrs.  Snow  to  me  telling  us  that  my  dear 
mother  was  no  more.  She  was  taken  with  congestive 
chills — the  first  had  been  severe,  but  the  second  was  light, 
and  two  weeks  having  elapsed  after  the  second  chill,  Dr 
Weir,  her  physician,  considered  her  out  of  danger  from  a 
third.  Lizzie  had  come  home  from  school,  and  slept  in 
the  adjoining  room,  and  a  servant  girl  much  attached  to 
my  mother  slept  on  a  pallet  before  mother's  door.  Mother 
would  not  allow  any  one  to  sit  up  with  her  now,  and  her 


58  MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEKICR 

tonic,  lamp  and  watch  were  placed  on  a  table  near  her. 
A  third  chill  must  have  come  on  during  the  night,  for  by 
the  early  morning  light,  on  October  2nd,  they  found  that 
my  dear  mother  was  cold  and  dead.  Oh,  what  a  grief  to 
me  was  this  first  great  loss  of  my  life.  Her  heart  had 
been  so  set  upon  seeing  me  that  I  now  blamed  myself  for 
not  going  to  meet  her  at  the  coast  when  she  had  proposed 
it. 

My  mother  had  a  sorrowful  widowed  life,  for  she  was 
not  always  successful  in  managing  business  or  in  govern- 
ing her  boys.  She  blamed  herself  for  her  want  of  success 
as  she  called  it,  and  she  seldom  smiled  and  never  appear- 
ed to  enjoy  life.  She  was  a  devoted  mother,  but  probably 
too  strict  with  her  children,  and  she  was  an  humble,faith- 
ful  Christian.  Her  death  was  to  me  a  sudden  awakening 
from  a  fancied  security  against  all  possible  evil.  Slowly 
and  sadly  I  came  to  realize  that  my  dear  mother  had  left 
this  world  forever,  and  we  should  not  meet  again  on 
earth. 

President  Lamar's  visit  to  San  Antonio  in  June  was 
to  sanction  and  encourage  an  expedition  to  Santa  Fe,  New 
Mexico.  The  object  of  this  expedition  was  to  open  a  line 
for  commerce  between  the  two  sections,  and  get  a  share 
of  the  lucrative  trade  between  Santa  Fe  and  Lexington, 
Mo.  Lamar  gave  the  project  his  sanction  and  encourage- 
ment, furnished  governmental  supplies  and  sought  the 
endorsement  of  Congress.  He  appointed  William  G. 
Cook,  Don  J.  A.  Navarro  and  R.  F.  Brenham  commission- 
ers to  go  with  the  expedition.  The  expedition,  after  much 
delay,  set  out  from  Brushy,  near  Georgetown,  on  the  20th 
of  June,  1841.  The  party  consisted  of  two  hundred  and 
seventy  armed  men  under  General  Hugh  McLeod,  and 
fifty  traders  with  wares  and  pack  mules.  There  were  al- 
so servants  and  some  supernumeraries.  Some  of  our 
brave  young  men  of  San  Antonio  were  of  the  party.  The 
unfortunate  expedition,  its  total  failure  and  the  unhappy 
causes  and  consequences  of  the  final  disaster,  are  told 
with  great  vigor  and  fidelity  by  George  W.  Kendall  who 


MAVERICK    HOMESTEAD,    ALAMO    PLAZA 


MEXICAN   HACAL    WITH    STRINGS    OF   BEEP    DRYINtt 
IN   THE    SUN 


MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  59 

was  of  the  party  and  wrote  a  thrilling  history  or  narra- 
tive of  the  expedition. 

It  was  strongly  believed  by  many  that  Juan  Nepomicino 
Seguin,  who  had  held  the  honorable  position  of  Mayor  of 
San  Antonio,  and  Representative  to  Congress,  from  Bex- 
ar,  and  being  a  man  of  great  pride  and  ambition,  had 
found  himself  surpassed  by  Americans,  and  somewhat 
overlooked  in  official  places,  had  become  dissatisfied 
with  the  Americans,  and  had  opened  communications  with 
the  officials  of  Mexico,  exposing  the  entire  plan  from  its 
inception  as  "invading  Mexican  soil."  Certain  it  is  that 
Governor  Armijo  of  New  Mexico  was  early  advised  of  the 
expedition,  and  ordered  to  capture  and  put  to  death  the 
whole  party.  From  this  time  Seguin  was  suspected  and 
Padre  Garza,  a  rich  and  influential  priest,  was  known  to 
carry  on  traitorous  correspondence  with  the  Mexican 
authorities.  Positive  proof,  however,  was  not  obtained 
until  Padre  Garza  escaped.  Seguin  indignantly  denied 
the  charge  and  many  suspended  judgement.  His  father, 
Don  Erasmo  Seguin,  was  a  cultivated  and  enlightened 
man,  who  had  befriended  Stephen  F.  Austin  in  a  Mexican 
dungeon,  had  been  friendly  to  the  Americans,  and  was 
much  esteemed  by  all. 


60  MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK 


Chaater  X. 
FLIGHT. 

OURING  the  fall  of  1841  and  the  following  winter, 
many  rumors  came  to  the  effect  that  the  Mexi- 
cans were  about  to  invade  Texas  in  force.  Some- 
times friendly-minded  Mexicans  dropped  in  to  warn  us 
and  even  to  entreat  us  not  to  remain  and  be  butchered, 
for  they  felt  sure  the  invading  army  would  be  vindict- 
ive and  cruel. 

1842. 

In  February  1842,  the  scouts  advised  Captain  Hays  that 
a  force  had  gathered  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande, 
had  crossed  to  this  side  and  was  moving  on  toward  San 
Antonio.  We  thought  it  must  be  a  foraging  party  which 
would  not  venture  into  San  Antonio,  but  our  soldier 
friends  insisted  that  the  ladies  and  children  should  not  re- 
main any  longer.  The  ladies  finally  agreed  to  move 
temporarily  from  San  Antonio.  Hasty  preparations  were 
made,  and  on  March  1st,  1842,  our  little  band  started  on 
the  trip  which  we  have  always  spoken  of  since  as  the 
"Runaway  of  '42." 

Mrs.  Campbell  and  Mrs.  Moore  waited  a  few  days  and 
did  not  afterwards  overtake  us.  Mrs.  Riddle  had  a  two 
weeks  old  baby,  (now  Mrs.  Eager),  and  could  not  move. 

Our  party  consisted  of  Mrs.  Elliott,  three  children  and 
two  servants ;  Mrs.  Jacques,  two  children  and  one  servant, 
also  having  Mr.  Douglas,  an  invalid  gentleman,  in  charge ; 
Mrs.  Bradley,  six  children  and  seven  or  eight  servants; 
Messrs.  Bradley,  Jacques  and  Elliott  having  remained  be- 
hind to  pack  up  and  urge  forward  such  of  their  goods  as 
were  most  valuable.  In  the  party  was  also  Mr.  Gautier, 
wife  and  child,  Judge  Hutchinson  and  wife  in  their  car- 


MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEElCK  61 

riage  with  driver,  the  only  fine  carriage  in  the  caravan — 
and  last  but  not  least  the  tribe  of  Maverick.  Mr.  Maverick 
and  I  were  mounted,  as  also  our  two  servants  Griffin  and 
Wiley.  Granville  drove  the  wood  cart  drawn  by  two 
horses,  which  carried  Jinny,  Rachael  and  quite  a  number 
of  children  white  and  black.  In  the  cart  we  had  also  the 
necessary  clothing,  bedding  and  provisions.  Our  carriage 
got  out  of  repair  soon  after -we  settled  in  San  Antonio,  and 
the  wheel  of  our  big  Kentucky  wagon  was  broken  and  we 
found  no  blacksmith  in  the  place  able  to  mend  or  repair 
either,  so  it  will  appear  we  were  just  a  Ittle  crowded. 
Mr.  Maverick  thought  we  would  go  back  very  soon,  and 
we  left  the  house  as  it  was  with  some  gentlemen  who 
would  live  there  and  care  for  it.  We  buried  some  articles 
under  the  storeroom  floor  and  I  left  a  bureau  of  drawers 
in  the  care  of  Mrs.  Soto.  In  that  bureau  I  placed  some 
keepsakes,  books,  silver,  my  wedding  dress  arid  other  ar- 
ticles I  valued.  Mrs  Soto  begged  me  to  send  the  bureau  to 
her  in  the  night-time  so  that  none  of  her  neighbors  should 
know.  These  things  she  faithfully  kept  for  me  till  we  re- 
turned in  September,  1847. 

Our  three  children  were  sometimes  in  the  wood  cart  and 
sometimes  in  front  of  the  riders — Agatha  the  baby  in  my 
lap.  Mrs.  Elliott  had  a  good  large  carryall,  Mrs.  Bradley 
a  fine  wagon  and  some  riding  horses.  Annie  Bradley 
rode  on  horseback  with  Mr.  Maverick  and  myself.  The 
weather  was  charming,  the  grass  green  and  the  whole 
earth  in  bloom — and  I  cannot  forget  the  gay  gallops  we 
had  going  ahead  and  resting  'til  the  others  came  up. 
Strange  that  we  refugees  should  be  such  a  happy  crowd, 
but  so  it  was.  So  it  always  will  be  with  youth  and  health 
— heedless  of  trouble  and  misfortune  awaiting  us. 

The  first  day  we  travelled  only  five  miles  and  camped 
on  the  west  bank  of  the  Salado.  It  rained  gently  on  us 
that  night  and  the  children  and  I  crept  under  our  little 
tent.  Mr.  Maverick  was  on  guard  part  of  the  time,  or 
asleep  in  his  blanket  before  the  camp  fire.  Once  it  rained 
so  hard  that  he  took  refuge  under  Judge  Hutchinson's 
carriage,  in  which  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  sleeping.  While 


62  MEMOIRS  .OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK 

he  was  lying  there  awake,  Judge  Hutchinson  came  up, 
opened  the  door,  and  remarking  to  Mrs.  Hutchinson  that 
he  had  just  been  relieved  from  guard  and  was  wet  and 
cold,  was  proceeding  to  enter  the  carriage,  when  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  said  in  rather  discouraging  tones:  "What 
makes  you  such  a  fool  as  to  stand  guard?  You  know  you 
can't  see  ten  feet."  "Well,  my  love,  can't  I  come  in?" 
''No,  my  dear,  you  can't,  you  are  damp  and  would  give  me 
a  bad  cold."  The  judge  resignedly  closed  the  door  and 
retired  to  the  camp-fire,  where  he  smoked  his  pipe,  rumi- 
nating over  the  cruelty  of  his  young  second  wife,  or  pos- 
sibly over  his  own  unwisdom  in  mentioning  the  fact  that 
he  was  wet  before  he  had  gotten  fairly  in. 

March  2nd.  We  traveled  eighteen  miles  to  the  Cibolo 
and  four  miles  to  Santa  Clara  and  camped.  Here  Colonel 
Ben  McCulloch,  Mr.  Miller  and  several  other  gentlemen 
met  and  camped  with  us — they  had  armed  in  haste  and 
were  going  out  to  San  Antonio  to  "meet  the  enemy."  They 
were  as  witty  and  lively  as  could  be  and  we  all  sat  late 
around  the  camp  fire  enjoying  their  jokes  and  "yarns." 
A  guard  was  kept  all  night  and  in  the  morning  when  Mc- 
Culloch's  party  was  about  to  leave  us,  Colonel  McCulloch 
told  the  ladies  that  Indians  had  been  seen  lurking  in  the 
neighborhood,  which  was  the  reason  they  had  given  us 
their  protecting  presence  during  the  night. 

March  3rd,  twelve  miles  to  Flores'  Rancho  near  Se- 
guin,  and  here  we  met  Major  Erskine  of  the  Capote  Farm, 
who  had  come  purposely  to  meet  and  conduct  us  to  his 
place,  in  good  old  Virginia  style.  He  was  an  old  acquain- 
tance and  friend  of  Mr  Bradley,  and  also  knew  Mr.  Mav- 
erick. We  proceeded  one  mile  further  to  Seguin  when  we 
camped  for  the  night.  Crossing  the  Guadalupe,  Mrs.  El- 
liott's carriage  turned  over,  breaking  a  shaft,  but  without 
injuring  anyone. 

March  4th,  Mr.  Maverick,  my  brothers  and  many  others 
left  us  for  San  Antonio,  and  we  went  on  twelve  miles  to 
Major  Erskine's.  We  were  many,  but  they  crowded  us  all 
into  their  hospitable  house,  gave  us  a  fine  supper,  and  a 
fine  breakfast,  and  although  Mrs.  Erskine  was  an  invalid 


MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEEICK  63 

confined  to  her  bed  at  the  time,  they  extended  to  us  the 
kindest  attentions,  and  treated  us  all  like  kin. 

March  5th,  after  breakfast  we  insisted  on  relieving  the 
kind  people  and  taking  care  of  ourselves.  Mrs.  Elliott, 
Mrs.  Jacques  and  I  took  possession  of  the  blacksmith  shop 
suburbs  and  adjacent  country  crowded  rapidly  into  the 
central  part  of  the  town,  and  many  came  to  our  house,  for 
five  or  six  gentlemen,  well  known  as  brave  men,  were  to 
be  the  defenders  of  our  house  in  case  of  an  attack.  The 
people  came  in  pell-mell,  they  crowded  into  my  room  and 
Mrs.  Riddle's  room,  and  there  was  no  chance  for  sleep  or 
privacy  that  long  night.  They  ate  all  the  provisions  we 
had  in  the  house,  (tho'  stored  in  a  large  fireplace  and  cov- 
ered up,)  the  children  cried,  and  we  had  a  dreadful  night 
of  it.  The  men  stood  guard,  they  barricaded  the  doors 
and  windows,  they  furnished  us  women  with  pistols  and 
knives  and  every  hour  or  so  they  reported,  "All's  well." 
Patrols  and  pickets  took  care  of  the  various  roads  and  al- 
together everybody,  except  probably  the  old  gentleman, 
had  a  frightful  night. 

The  old  fellow  who  started  all  the  hubbub  became 
sick  apparently,  and  went  off  somewhere  to  sleep,  and  in 
the  morning  they  found  that  he  had  gone  crazy  from  the 
excitement  of  the  times.  His  story  had  been  a  mere  vagary 
of  his  disordered  mind,  and  no  Indians  were  near  us. 

Mr.  Maverick  returned  to  us  in  April.  He  had  found 
our  house  robbed  of  everything.  We  had  built  a  brick  wall 
and  a  walnut  mantel-piece  together,  so  as  to  divide  our 
"long-room"  into  two  apartments,  and  even  this  mantel 
had  been  forced  out  of  the  wall  and  carried  off.  It  had 
been  sand-papered  and  oil-rubbed  until  it  looked  beauti- 
ful, and  they  took  it  for  some  rare  wood.  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son's  piano  had  been  chopped  open  with  an  axe  and  all 
kinds  of  damage  had  been  done  to  anything  belonging  to 
Americans. 

Mr.  Maverick  found  it  necessary  to  make  another  trip 
to  the  United  States,  and,  being  desirous  of  leaving  us  in 
a  perfectly  safe  place  during  his  absence,  he  concluded 


64  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.   MAVERICK 

to  take  us  to  the  Colorado  River  near  La  Grange,  and 
leave  us  there  until  his  return. 

April  16th,  we  set  out  for  the  Colorado,  Andrew  ac- 
companying us,  and  travelled  twelve  miles  to  McClures. 

A  presentiment  fulfilled.  On  April  17th,  we  travelled 
twenty-eight  or  thirty  miles  to  Mr.  Chadong's  on  the  west 
bank  of  the  Navidad.  It  was  on  this  day's  trip  that  I 
experienced  a  memorable  foreboding  which  saved  us  from 
disaster.  We  had  travelled  about  twenty-two  miles  when 
we  reached  a  lone  log  house,  where  a  family,  O'Bar,  I 
think,  had  been  massacred  by  the  Indians  four  years  pre- 
viously. This  house  was  much  used  by  travellers  as  a 
stopping  place,  and  we  had  expected  to  stop  there,  and 
now  it  was  dusk  and  very  cloudy,  and  we  had  every 
reason  to  wish  to  remain  there  during  the  night,  for  it 
was  eight  miles  to  the  next  place;  but  as  I  rode  up  to  the 
doorless  cabin  and  looked  into  the  large  room,  which  ap- 
peared all  right,  a  strange  feeling  of  danger  came  over 
me  so  strongly  that  I  turned  and  said  to  my  husband  and 
brother,  "Don't  think  of  staying  here  for  something  very 
dreadful  will  happen  if  you  do."  They  laughed,  and 
bantered  me  on  being  afraid  of  Indians,  but  I  answered. 
"Not  Indians,  I  don't  know  what  it  is,  but  we  must  go  on." 

We,  people  and  beasts,  were  all  very  tired,  but  I  was  so 
urgent  that  we  all  went  on  after  waiting  for  the  cart  a  lit- 
tle while.  Soon  after,  a  tremendous  thunder  storm  swept 
over  us,  the  wind  whistled  mournfully,  the  lightning  flash- 
ed vividly  about  us  and  the  rain  poured  down  in  torrents. 
A  tree  at  the  roadside,  just  ahead  of  us,  was  torn  to  pieces 
by  a  lightning  stroke.  The  road  was  full  of  water  directly 
and  our  horses  could  only  walk,  so  that  it  was  after  mid- 
night when  we  approached  Chadong's  house.  But  our 
trouble  was  not  ended  then —  a  ravine  crossed  our  path 
between  us  and  the  house  and  it  was  overflowing  its 
banks.  Andrew  swam  over  and  found  a  fair  crossing, 
and  then  came  back  and  led  my  horse.  Agatha  was 
sleeping  in  my  arms  at  the  time.  I  had  kept  her  tolerably 
dry,  and  she  slept  peacefully  through  it  all.  Lewis  was 
asleep  in  front  of  his  papa  and  was  kept  dry  by  his  Mex- 


MEMOIES  OF  MAKY  A.  MAVEEICK  65 

lean  blanket.  After  we  had  called  repeatedly  Mr.  Cha- 
dong  opened  his  door,  and  when  he  learnt  who  we  were  he 
apologized  for  keeping  us  out  in  the  storm  so  long.  He 
said  he  had  to  be  cautious  because  of  the  dangerous  times, 
and  that  it  was  not  safe  to  let  everybody  in.  He  told  us 
of  a  better  crossing,  and  Andrew  went  back  to  guide  the 
balance  of  our  people  over,  and  returned  holding  Sam  in 
his  arms. 

The  kind  people  of  the  house  did  all  they  could  for  us 
— they  built  big  fires,  spread  beds  for  us  on  the  floor, 
and  the  children  were  soon  asleep  again.  I  turned  about, 
and  dried  my  clothes  upon  me  and  did  not  sleep  'til  near 
day,  the  hogs  were  so  noisy  under  the  house,  and  the  fleas 
so  thick  within.  On  the  18th,  and  until  the  20th,  the  Navi- 
dad  was  impassable,  and  so  we  moved  into  Mr.  Chadong's 
corn  crib  and  kept  house  for  ourselves. 

In  the  course  of  the  day  a  man  following  our  route  in- 
formed us  that  the  storm  of  the  previous  night  had  blown 
down  the  deserted  log  cabin  which  I  had  refused  to  en- 
ter, roof  and  big  logs  all  in  ruins  lay  scattered  upon  the 
ground.  We  were  very  thankful  for  our  Divine  guidance 
from  this  certain  death  to  some  of  us,  had  we  camped  in 
the  house. 

Our  travel  of  the  day  before  had  been  uncommon  to  say 
the  least.  We  crossed  the  "bald  prairie"  which  Indians 
were  believed  to  be  always  watching,  and  through  which 
ran  their  trail,  generally  passed  over  by  them  in  the  full 
of  the  moon,  to  steal  and  often  murder  or  take  captives. 
We  had  a  very  early  start  and  only  stopped  at  mid-day  to 
lunch,  and  to  rest  our  animals — the  cart  was  lightly  load- 
ed and  the  people  preferred  to  walk  much  of  the  time — 
but  in  eighteen  hours  we  had  gone  twenty-eight  or  thirty 
miles — and  we  were  wet,  hungry  and  tired  dreadfully 
yet  no  one  of  us  was  sick,  or  even  had  a  cold. 

While  we  were  living  in  the  corn  crib,  Mrs.  Chadong 
invited  us  to  dine  with  her.  She  had  young  chickens  and 
green  peas,  and  tarts  of  Mustang  grapes,  sweetened  with 
molasses,  the  only  sweetening  to  be  had.  They  had  cof- 
fee without  milk  or  cream,  although  they  were  large  cat- 


66  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.   MAVERICK 

tie  owners.  They  were  very  kind  and  hospitable  to  us,  and 
we  enjoyed  the  excellent  dinner  and  their  good  cheer 
very  much. 

April  20th,  Andrew  went  back,  and  we  crossed  the 
Navidad  and  travelled  eighteen  miles  to  Buckner's  Creek 
and  stopped  at  Major  Brookfield's — 21st,  six  miles  to  the 
Colorado  River. 

On  the  west  bank  of  the  Colorado  stood  the  office  of 
Colonel  J.  W.  Dancy,  and  the  vacant  house  adjoining  just 
left  so  by  the  family  of  Enoch  Jones  who  had  fled  further 
east.  Mr.  Griff.  Jones  a  brother  was  there  and  Mr. 
McAhron,  the  ferryman.  They  begged  us  to  stop  and 
take  charge  of  the  house,  alleging  that  they  were  lone- 
some and  were  tired  cooking  for  themselves.  We  rested 
there  one  week,  and  on  the  29th,  we  returned  to  Brook- 
field's  on  Buckner's  Creek,  where  we  engaged  board  with 
his  daughter,  Mrs.  Evans. 

April  30th.  Today  Mr.  Maverick  left  us  to  go  to  Ala- 
bama. He  left  to  collect  some  money  due  him  in  Tuska- 
loosa  and  also  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  back  with 
him  my  sister  Elizabeth.  None  of  my  brothers  were  mar- 
ried, and  as  I  was  the  only  one  who  could  offer  her  the 
comforts  of  a  home,  she  had  concluded  to  brave  our  wild 
country  and  unite  her  fortune  with  ours. 

May  13th.  Anton  Lockmar  rode  expressly  from  San 
Antonio  with  letters  from  John  Bradley  and  J.  W.  Smith, 
from  which  we  learned  that  all  Americans  had  left  that 
place  again — that  seven  hundred  Mexicans  \vere  ten  miles 
below  and  would  probably  seize  the  town,  for  our  volun- 
teers had  disbanded  and  gone  home.  Radaz  and  some 
others  were  captured  by  the  Mexicans  thirty  miles  below 
San  Antonio.  About  twenty  men  under  Hays  were  out 
west  and  had  overstaid  their  appointed  time,  and  fears 
were  entertained  for  their  safety — Cornelius  Van  Ness 
had  been  accidently  shot  and  killed  by  James  Robinson. 

May  23d.  Agatha  had  burning  fever  for  three  hours. 
Dr.  Wells  gave  her  senna. 

May  24th.  News  from  LaGrange  gave  report  that 
fifty  Comanches  had  been  seen  on  Peach  Creek  twenty 


MEMOIBS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVEEICK  67 

miles  from  us.  Most  of  the  young  men  in  that  vicinity 
left  in  pursuit  of  the  Indians. 

May  26th.  The  young  men  returned,  had  found  no 
fresh  trail. 

June  2nd.  Heard  of  Major  Tom  Howard  and  Mr.  Hud- 
son passing  through  Columbus  going  west.  They  were  in 
the  Santa  Fe  expedition,  had  been  taken  prisoners  and  had 
escaped. 

June  llth.  Mr.  Maverick  returned  from  Alabama 
with  my  sister  Lizzie .  They  came  upon  horseback 
from  Galveston,  via  Mobile  and  New  Orleans,  having 
bought  horses  for  themselves  and  a  new  saddle  for  me. 

June  21st.  We  returned  to  General  Dancy's,  and  took 
up  our  residence  at  his  place,  until  we  could  provide  a 
home  for  ourselves.  This  place  is  in  Fayette  County,  op- 
posite La  Grange  on  the  Colorado. 

August  22nd.  Mr.  Maverick,  with  servant  Griffin,  J. 
Beale,  Grif.  Jones  and  Mr.  Jackson  set  off  for  San  An- 
tonio to  attend  the  Fall  Term  of  Court.  Griffin  went 
along  to  bring  back  whatever  he  could  find  of  our  furni- 
ture. Lizzie  and  I  and  Colonel  Dancy  accompanied  them 
six  or  seven  miles  of  their  way.  I  felt  much  depressed 
at  saying  goodbye,  and  deplored  the  necessity  of  his  going 
so  much,  that  Mr.  Maverick  remarked :  "Almost  you  per- 
me  not  to  go." 

Alas !  too  surely  and  swiftly  came  a  terrible  sorrow. 


68  MEMOIES  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 


Chapter  XI. 
PEROTE. 

September  llth,  Sunday  morning,  at  day-break, 
General  Adrian  Woll  with  a  large  force  of  Mexicans  con- 
sisting of  cavalry  and  artillery  to  the  number  of  thirteen 
hundred  suddenly  appeared  before  San  Antonio,  and  cap- 
tured the  place.  It  was  a  complete  surprise.  The  court 
was  in  session  at  the  time,  and,  including  the  members  of 
the  bar  and  Judge  of  the  district  Court,  fifty-three 
Americans  were  captured,  one  of  whom  was  Mr.  Maver- 
ick. 

Before  the  little  band  surrendered,  they  showed  a  bold 
and  vigorous  front,  even  in  the  face  of  such  fearful  odds. 
They  fortified  themselves  in  the  Maverick  residence  at  the 
corner  of  Commerce  and  Soledad  Streets — some  of  them 
mounted  upon  the  roof,  when  Mr.  John  Twohig  received 
a  wound  from  which  he  has  never  entirely  recovered. 
When  the  Mexican  troops  entered  Main  Plaza,  the 
Texans  fired  upon  them  briskly,  killing  two  and  wounding 
twenty-six,  six  of  whom  died  of  the  wounds. 

General  Woll  beat  a  parley,  and  after  he  had  shown  the 
Texans  they  could  not  escape  him  and  had  promised  to 
treat  them  as  honorable  prisoners  of  war  and  used  some 
other  plausible  talk  with  them,  the  Texans  held  a  consul- 
tation among  themselves,  when  a  majority  voted  to  sur- 
render. After  they  surrendered,  they  were  kept  in  the 
Maverick  residence,  where  they  were  closely  guarded  un- 
til the  15th. 

Mrs.  Elliott  was  in  San  Antonio  when  my  husband  was 
captured,  and  she  was  allowed  to  visit  the  prisoners  once 
or  twice  before  they  were  taken  off  to  Mexico.  Mr.  Mav- 
erick found  an  opportunity  to  hand  Mrs.  Elliott  twenty 
gold  doubloons  for  me. 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  69 

No  one  can  imagine  how  dreadful  this  news  was  to  me, 
especially  when  I  learned  that  our  poor  prisoners  were 
marched  off  on  foot  for  Mexico  on  15th.  At  this  time  my 
poor  little  Lewis  was  dangerously  ill  with  fever  then  pre- 
valent in  the  neighborhood.  Our  slave  Griffin  had  come 
back  from  San  Antonio  and  was  greatly  troubled  about 
his  master,  to  whom  he  was  much  attached.  I  called  him 
to  me,  and  talked  to  him  about  going  out  to  San  Antonio 
to  pass  himself  for  a  runaway,  follow  to  Mexico,  and  do 
anything  he  could  to  free  or  even  aid  Mr.  Maverick,  and 
he  could  have  his  freedom.  He  answered  that  to  do 
anything  for  his  master  would  delight  him,  and  he  had 
been  wanting  to  ask  me  to  let  him  go — "as  for  my  free- 
doom,"  he  added,  "I  do  not  want  any  more  than  I  have, 
master  has  always  treated  me  more  like  a  brother  than 
a  slave*,"  and  he  choked  up  unable  to  say  more.  He  took 
a  gun,  a  good  mule,  some  money,  and  made  ready  and 
started  within  a  few  hours — happy  to  think  he  might 
do  something  to  help  his  master.  15th.  Juan  Seguin 
killed  Dr.  Smithers,  McDonald  and  McRhea  at  the  Sul- 
phur Springs  on  the  Cibolo.  17th,  163  men  under  Mat 
Caldwell  are  on  the  Cibolo  going  west.  18th,  Caldwell 
moved  with  225  men  to  the  Salado,  and  on  the  morning 
in  the  yard,  and  Mr.  Gautier's  family  took  a  shed  along- 
side the  shop.  The  Bradleys  remained  housed  with  the 
Erskines,  and  the  Hutchinsons  went  on  east.  We  had 
great  fun  decorating  our  domicile.  We  placed  flowers  and 
green  boughs  in  the  chinks,  and.  erected  a  shelf  on  which 
we  placed  a  borrowed  mirror,  and  our  perfumery  bottles 
and  bric-a-brac,  and  we  made  ourselves  at  home  general- 
ly. The  servants  stretched  tents  near  by  and  cooked  us  a 
nice  supper. 

March  6th.  Early,  to-wit  at  three  a.  m.,  Captain  High- 
smith  rapped  loudly  on  our  door  and,  when  we  had  an- 
swered, called  out  in  a  solemn  voice:  "Ladies,  San  An- 
tonio has  fallen."  It  was  startling  news  indeed,  and  the 
night  being  very  dark  and  cold,  we  were  seized  with  a 
vague  sense  of  terror.  Mrs  Jacques  lit  a  candle  and  com- 
menced weeping  bitterly.  Mrs.  Elliott  fell  on  her  knees 


70  MEMOIES  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

and  counted  her  beads  oftener  than  once,  and  I  took  a 
shaking  ague  and  could  not  speak  for  the  chatter  of  my 
teeth.  The  children  waked  and  cried,  the  negroes  came 
in  with  sad  and  anxious  looks,  and  we  were  in  fact  seized 
with  a  genuine  "panic." 

Then  Mr.  Gautier  learned  from  Captain  Highsmith 
that  the  Americans  had  fallen  back  in  good  order,  with 
their  cannon — that  General  Rafael  Vasquez  with  a  large 
force  had  entered  San  Antonio  on  the  5th,  and  that  the 
Americans  believing  Vasquez'  forces  to  be  the  van- 
guard of  a  large  army,  had  decided  upon  making  Seguin 
our  rendezvous,  and  were  gradually  retreating  to  that 
point.*  That  miserable  day,  all  day,  rumors  came,  cour- 
iers passed  in  haste,  and  we  were  informed  that  an  army 
of  thirty  thousand  Mexicans  had  cut  our  forces  up  and 
was  marching  directly  toward  Capote  Farm,  presumably 
intending  to  cross  the  Guadalupe  at  this  point. 

During  the  excitement  in  the  morning,  Mrs.  Jacques 
buried  her  money,  and  Mrs.  Elliott  constructed  three 
bustles,  for  herself  and  her  two  servant-women,  and  in 
the  bustles  she  deposited  her  gold  doubloons,  and  we  had 
all  prepared  and  recited  what  we  should  say  to  the  Mex- 
ican officers  upon  their  arrival.  After  dinner,  we  all 
went  out  to  the  public  road  and  sat  down  on  a  log,  all  in 
a  row  and  watched  to  see  them  approach,  whilst  the  in- 
valid Mr.  Douglas,  wearing  his  comical  long  red-silk 
smoking  cap  tried  to  cheer  and  amuse  us  with  his  Jokes 
and  witticisms.  Soon  towards  the  fatal  west  was  seen 
an  approaching  horseman  urging  his  tired  steed  with  whip 
and  spur — "A  Courier!"  cried  Douglas,  "Now  we  shall 
know  all."  Sure  enough  it  was  my  dear  brother  Andrew 
come  to  set  us  at  ease  about  the  personal  safety  of  our 
absent  husbands,  as  he  had  a  better  horse  than  they,  for 
our  husbands  appreciated  our  anxiety,  and  had  sent  him 
forward  as  their  avant  courier,  and  before  dark  Mr.  Mav- 


*On  March  6,  '42  Gen.  Vasquez  with  1400  Mexican  troops  appeared  and 
captured  San  Antonio.  No  battle  was  fought  and  they  retreated  across  the 
Rio  Grande  during  the  same  month.  This  was  the  time  when  John  Twohig  blew 
Bp  hit  store.  G.  M.  Maverick. 


MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEEICK  71 

erick  and  Mr.  Elliott  came,  followed  soon  afterwards  by 
Mr.  Bradley  and  Mr.  Jacques. 

Hays  sent  us  word  to  go  right  on  to  Gonzales,  and  we 
were  informed  that  he  with  some  three  hundred  men  had 
concluded  to  march  on  San  Antonio  and  attempt  its  re- 
capture, Hays  having  satisfied  himself  that  no  additional 
forces  were  sustaining  Vasquez.  On  March  9th,  Hays 
with  three  hundred  men  entered  San  Antonio,  and  on  his 
approach,  Vasquez  with  eight  hundred  men  fell  back 
across  the  Rio  Grande,  after  having  done  considerable 
damage  to  property  in  San  Antonio. 

Meanwhile  we  had  gone  to  Gonzales,  where  Mr.  Mav- 
erick left  us  again  and  returned  to  San  Antonio.  We  re- 
mained in  Gonzales  until  April  16th.  The  Bradleys  re- 
mained with  the  Erskines  awhile  and  then  went  to  the 
Brazos  in  company  with  the  Chalmers.  At  Gonzales, 
Mrs.  Riddle  overtook  us  and  joined  me  in  the  house  I  was 
occupying — a  house  vacated  by  the  owners,  who  had  fled 
further  east.  Mr.  Robinson,  partner  of  her  husband, 
brought  Mrs.  Riddle  from  San  Antonio  in  a  buggy  behind 
a  fleet  horse.  She  became  very  sick,  and  for  a  time  could 
not  nurse  her  baby,  a  little  more  than  three  weeks  old, 
and  I  gave  her  little  Sallie  a  portion  of  Agatha's  milk  un- 
til Mrs.  Riddle  recovered. 

On  the  way  from  Capote  farm  to  Gonzales,  we  had 
passed  King's  Rancho,  which  had  just  been  deserted  by 
the  owners.  Here  was  desolation  amidst  plenty.  The 
corn  crib  was  full,  the  smoke  house  well  supplied  and 
chickens  and  hogs  moved  around  as  usual — but  on  the 
front  door  a  notice  was  posted:  "To  all  refugees,  wel- 
come, help  yourselves  to  what  you  need.  Also,  to  all 
marching  to  repel  the  invaders,  take  what  you  want,  but 
leave  the  remainder  to  the  next  comers."  This  at  first 
appeared  remarkable,  but  it  was  founded  in  wisdom.  All 
along  the  Guadalupe  and  even  the  Colorado,  families  ran 
away  from  their  homes  in  the  same  way,  and  great  losses 
followed.  My  brothers  William  and  Andrew,  living  on 
the  San  Marcos,  sent  their  negroes  each  with  a  "run 
away"  family,  and  went  to  the  front  with  Caldwell  and 


72  MEMOIBS  OF  MAKY  A.  MAVERICK 

McCulloch,  and  while  they  were  absent  some  wanton 
passersby  left  their  fences  down  and  their  hogs  were 
killed  and  stolen — their  cattle  strayed,  and  finally  a  flood 
came  in  May,  swept  away  their  bottom  fences,  and  broke 
them  up.  Andrew  left  affairs  with  William,  and  in  the 
summer  went  back  to  Alabama  to  complete  his  medical 
studies  in  Tuskaloosa,  intending  to  return  eventually  with 
his  diploma;  he  also  had  some  property  there  from 
Mother's  estate  to  attend  to.  While  we  were  in- Gonzales, 
I  met  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Vanderlip,  young  people,  living  there, 
who  afterwards  came  to  San  Antonio.  Mrs.  Vanderlip 
had  a  piano  and  was  very  pretty  and  not  long  from  New 
York  City.  I  met  also  Mrs.  Ballinger  of  South  Carolina 
and  her  sister  Miss  Roach,  afterwards  Mrs.  Frank  Pas- 
chal. 

A  singular  panic  occurred  in  Gonzales  when  we  were 
there.  One  evening  an  old  and  respected  citizen  came  in 
from  the  country  northwest  of  town,  and,  in  a  state  of  the 
greatest  excitement  reported  that  a  large  force  of  Indians 
was  enroute  coming  down  the  river  direct  for  Gonzales 
and  would  certainly  arrive  during  the  ensuing  night.  He 
said  they  could  easily  take  and  destroy  the  town,  weak- 
ened in  force  as  it  was.  This  report  spread  swiftly  and 
created  the  wildest  excitement.  The  people  from  the 
of  the  19th,  selecting  a  ravine  for  his  force,  he  ordered 
Hays  with  50  mounted  men  to  draw  the  Mexicans  out  of 
San  Antonio. 

The  Battle  of  the  Salado.  This  battle  ground  was  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  Salado  about  six  miles  from  San  An- 
tonio and  a  mile  below  the  Austin  crossing  of  that  creek. 
Hays  maneuvered  to  success,  and  feigning  flight,  was  hot- 
ly pursued  by  the  two  hundred  Mexican  cavalry  to  the 
Salado,  who  then  halted  and  awaited  the  arrival  of  the 
main  body  of  one  thousand  infantry  (dismounted  men) 
and  a  battery  of  two  guns. 

My  brothers  William  and  Andrew  were  both  with  Cald- 
well,  and  they  afterwards  told  me  all  about  the  battle. 
The  Mexicans  charged  in  style.  The  Texans  held  their 
fire  until  they  "could  see  the  whites  of  the  eyes"  of  their 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  73 

foes — then  each  "picked  his  man  and  laid  him  low,"  and 
the  Mexicans  were  repulsed  with  considerable  slaughter. 
They  returned  to  the  charge  again  and  again,  but  were 
repulsed  each  time  with  great  loss.  The  battle  lasted  from 
eleven  o'clock,  a.  m.  until  five  in  the  afternoon,  when  the 
the  Mexicans  were  repulsed  with  considerable  slaughter, 
back  on  San  Antonio.  General  Woll  reported  his  loss  as 
one  hundred  killed,  but  our  people  claimed  three  times  as 
many.  Amongst  the  Mexicans  slain  were  Agaton  and  Cor- 
dova, two  famous  leaders  of  marauding  parties.  Not  a 
Texan  was  killed  and  only  ten  were  wounded.  My  broth- 
ers told  me  it  was  a  pleasure  to  our  boys  to  shoot  down 
those  Mexicans,  "for  they  had  broken  up  all  our  homes 
and  taken  many  of  our  brave  comrades  into  cruel  capti- 
vity." 

On  the  morning  of  the  battle,  the  Texans  had  butcher- 
ed some  beeves,  but  before  they  could  get  their  breakfast, 
the  order  was  given  to  fall  in.  But  after  the  fight  com- 
menced, and  they  found  it  was  such  an  easy  going  affair, 
after  each  charge  was  repulsed,  and  before  the  Mexicans 
slowly  reformed  and  advanced  again,  our  boys  would  de- 
scend into  the  ravine  and  take  a  lunch  of  broiled  meat 
and  hot  coffee.  They  joked  and  sang  and  were  very 
gay,  and  they  wanted  nothing  better  than  to  have  the 
Mexicans  come  up  and  be  shot — it  seemed  like  child's 
play.  They  themselves  were  quite  secure  behind  the 
banks  of  the  ravine  and  the  cannon  balls  passed  above 
and  over  them. 

The  Dawson  Massacre.  During  the  day  of  the  battle 
of  the  Salado,  Captain  Dawson  with  his  brave  fifty-nine 
men  from  Fayette  County,  seeking  a  junction  with  the 
main  force  under  Caldwell  met  a  bloody  and  cruel  fate. 
They  fell  in  with  WolPs  army  and  were  surrounded  by 
eight  hundred  Mexican  troops  when  within  one  mile  of 
Caldwell.  Our  faithful  Griffin  was  with  Dawson's  com- 
pany. They  fought  so  desperately  that  the  Mexicans 
brought  their  two  cannon  to  bear  upon  them,  when  Daw- 
son,  seeing  there  was  no  hope  of  escape,  raised  the  "white 
flag."  This  was  fired  upon,  and  the  Mexican  cavalry,  dis- 


74  MEMOIRS  OF  MAKY  A.  MAVEKICK 

regarding  the  surrender,  charged  upon  the  gallant  rem- 
nant and  cut  them  down  on  every  side.  It  was  then  that 
Dawson  was  slain.  Colonel  Carasco  interfered  at  this  mo- 
ment and  fifteen  Texans  were  taken  prisoners — three  or 
four  of  whom  died  of  their  wounds.  Thirty-three  had 
been  slain  and  the  rest  escaped.* 

Mr.  Miller  escaped  on  a  fine  horse  before  the  white  flag 
was  raised.  My  uncle,  Mr.  John  Bradley,  was  one  of  the 
prisoners.  Ten  of  them,  including  Mr.  Bradley,  were 
marched  off  to  Mexico,  and  finally  joined  the  fifty-three 
who  had^  started  on' the  13th. 

Our  poor  Griffin  was  slain.  He  would  go  into  the  fight 
with  them  and  though  offered  quarter  several  times  re- 
fused because  he  was  thinking  of  his  master,  now  a  prison- 
erer,  and  too,  of  his  young  masters,  William  and  Andrew, 
now  possibly  slain;  the  desire  for  vengeance  seized  his 
brave  and  trusty  soul,  and  he  wanted  to  kill  every  Mexi- 
can he  could.  He  was  a  man  of  powerful  frame,  and  he 
posessed  the  courage  of  the  African  lion.  And  this  faith- 
ful and  devoted  African  performed  prodigies  that  day. 
When  his  ammunition  became  useless  because  of  the 
proximity  of  the  enemy,  he  fought  with  the  butt-end  of 
his  gun  and  when  the  gun  was  broken,  he  wrenched  a 
limb  from  a  mesquite-tree  and  did  battle  with  that  until 
death  closed  his  career.  He  received  more  than  one  mor- 
tal wound  before  he  ceased  fighting.* 

The  Mexican  Colonel  Carasco  himself  afterwards  told 
Mr.  Maverick  that  he  had  witnessed  the  feats  performed 
by  "that  valiant  black  man,"  and  he  pronounced  Griffin 
the  bravest  man  he  had  ever  seen.  Mr.  Maverick  grieved 
over  his  untimely  death,  and  more  than  once  did  he  say: 
"We  owe  Griffin  a  monument." 

September  20th.  The  Mexican  citizens  of  San  Antonio 
who  espoused  the  Mexican  cause,  with  a  guard  of  four 


*Thrall  says  the  battle  took  place  on  the  17th.  He  says  that  as  Gen.  Woll 
retreated  he  fell  in  with  Dawson  's  company  of  55  men — 33  were  slain,  15  sur- 
rendered and  2  escaped  (he  doesn't  account  for  the  other  five  men).  He  says 
Woll  retreated  the  following  morning  from  S.  A.  and  that  a  misunderstanding  AS 
to  who  was  entitled  to  command  prevented  pursuit  by  the  Texans. 

*Brown's  history  says   "Griffin"   was  killed  with  Dawson.     Gr.   M.  M. 


SAN    JUAN    OK    THIRD    MISSION 


MISSION    SAN    .FRANCISCO    DE    LA    ESPADA,    OR    4th   MISSION 


MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  75 

hundred  soldiers,  left  San  Antonio  for  Mexico,  taking  with 
them  five  hundred  head  of  cattle  and  much  plunder. 

September  21st,  General  Woll,  with  his  remaining 
forces  evacuated  San  Antonio,  and  retired  in  good  order 
towards  the  Rio  Grande.  Colonel  Caldwell  with  six  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men  pursued  them,  and  at  night  came  upon 
their  camp  on  the  Medina.  At  daylight  the  next  morning, 
the  Texans  found  the  enemy  had  retreated  during  the 
night — they  gave  chase,  and  caught  up  with  them  early 
in  the  afternoon.  Caldwell  ("Old  Paint")  commanded 
the  first  division,  Morehead  the  second  and  John  H.  Moore 
the  third  or  reserve.  J.  H.  Moore  was  the  ranking  offi- 
cer, but  Caldwell  immediately  took  active  command,  and 
prepared  for  the  battle.  He  commanded  Hays  with 
twenty  picked  men  to  make  a  diversion  on  the  enemy's 
left.  Hays,  with  his  usual  dash  and  gallantry,  entered 
vigorously  into  the  spirit  of  the  hour.  He  charged  bold- 
ly into  the  ranks  of  the  enemy  and  immediately  captured 
the  artillery,  The  Mexicans  threw  their  women  and  chil- 
dren into  the  space  between  the  captured  artillery  and 
their  main  army.  Then  came  a  dreadful  pause.  A  dis- 
graceful scene  was  being  enacted  in  the  Texan  army.  J. 
H.  Moore  claimed  his  right  as  ranking  officer  to  conduct 
the  battle.  Caldwell's  men  refused  to  be  commanded  by 
anyone  other  than  the  hero  of  the  Salado.  Morehead's 
men  demanded  that  Morehead  should  command.  After 
some  delay  Caldwell  awoke  to  the  importance  of  action 
and  announced  that  he  would  follow  Moore  or  any  other 
man,  and  take  all  his  men  into  the  fight  with  him.  But  the 
contention  had  lasted  too  long;  the  important  moment 
had  come  and  had  fled  forever.  Hays'  small  band  had 
captured  the  artillery,  and  the  enemy  was  already  casting 
timorous  glances  toward  the  rear — a  charge  by  the  Tex- 
ans would  have  scattered  them  to  the  winds.  As  it  was, 
Hays  was  in  a  perilous  position — the  enemy  had  time  to 
recover  from  the  first  shock — they  charged  upon  Hays  in 
force  and  drove  him  from  the  field.  Hays  fell  back  out  of 
range  and  witnessed  Woll's  army  successfully  retire  from 
the  field  and  resume  the  march  westward.  Hays'  gallant 


76  MEMOIRS  OF  MAKY  A.  MAVERICK 

spirit  was  wounded  by  this  unaccountable  and  ignomini- 
ous scene  and  his  feelings  found  utterance  in  tears — yes, 
tears  of  shame  and  rage.  The  Texan  army  at  last  came 
forward,  but  it  was  too  late,  the  enemy  had  escaped.  The 
Texans  were  so  disgusted  and  mortified  that  all  discipline 
was  lost  and  they  returned  in  angry  and  humiliated 
squads  to  San  Antonio.  Hays  had  five  wounded  in  his 
brilliant  encounter,  one  of  whom,  Judge  Lucky,  died. 
The  Mexicans  abandoned  their  extra  baggage  and  fled 
precipitately  across  the  Rio  Grande. 

The  blame  of  the  failure  was  cast  principally  upon 
Colonel  Caldwell,  and  he  felt  so  humiliated  and  outraged 
that  he  became  restive  under  the  heavy  burden  and  from 
a  condition  of  excellent  health,  he  sank  into  despondency 
and  died  of  chagrin  two  or  three  months  later.  But  his 
memory  remained  fresh  and  revered.  He  had  been  a 
noted  Indian  fighter,  as  I  have  mentioned  before,  and  he 
had  been  an  officer  in  the  unfortunate  Santa  Fe  expedi- 
tion, and  had  suffered  imprisonment.  He  had  a  great  and 
good  reputation  throughout  west  Texas. 

I  now  return  to  Mr.  Maverick,  and  other  prisoners 
captured  on  September  llth,  in  San  Antonio  during  the 
Term  of  the  Court. 

On  March  30th,  1843,  Mr.  Maverick,  W.  E.  Jones  and 
Judge  Anderson  Hutchinson  were  finally  released  in  the 
City  of  Mexico  by  Santa  Anna.  Our  obligations  to  Gener- 
al Waddy  Thompson  can  never  be  forgotten.  General 
Thompson  was  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  and  a  connec- 
tion by  marriage  of  Mr.  Maverick's.  Ha  was  the  United 
States  Minister  to  Mexico.  After  securing  the  release  of 
Mr.  Maverick,  Jones  and  Hutchinson,  he  nobly  exerted 
his  influence  to  secure  the  release  of  all  the  other  helpless 
and  friendless  prisoners,  and  he  did  not  cease  his  efforts 
until  he  had  succeeded  in  getting  them  all — all  the  sur- 
\Tivors — liberated. 

On  April  2nd,  1843,  Mr.  Maverick,  once  more  free, 
left  the  City  of  Mexico,  and  on  May  4th,  he  dismounted 
at  our  cabin  on  the  Colorado,  having  been  absent  from 


MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  77 

his  family  eight  and  a  half  months,  and  a  prisoner  seven 
months. 

Mr.  Maverick's  only  sorrow  was  that  he  had  left  so 
many  friends  and  comrades  in  prison,  and  he  felt  almost 
ashamed  when  he  met  any  of  their  families  and  friends, 
who  all,  of  course,  came  to  see  him — to  tell  them  of  his 
own  good  luck  and  of  the  continued  ill  luck  of  the  other 
captives. 

June  16th,  1843,  Santa  Anna,  as  a  special  favor  to 
General  Waddy  Thompson,  signed  the  release  for  the 
balance  of  the  Perote  prisoners,  but  the  order  for  release 
was  so  slowly  carried  into  execution  that  it  was  more  than 
two  months  before  Mr.  Bradley  reached  his  family. 


78  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.   MAVERICK 


Chapter  XII. 
COLORADO  BOTTOMS. 

lived  on  the  Colorado  from  June  21st,  1842,  un- 
til  November  15th,  1844.  I  have  mentioned  our 
arrival,  June  21st,  at  Colonel  Dancy's  where  we 
were  to  remain  a  while.  On  August  21st,  Mr.  Maverick 
bought  twenty-six  acres  of  land,  fronting  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Colorado,  and  lying  between  two  tracts  be- 
longing to  Colonel  Dancy.  He  had  it  surveyed  by  Hudson, 
and  made  arrangements  to  build  us  a  temprorary  home 
on  it.  This  tract  was  opposite  La  Grange  in  Fayette 
County  and  opposite  the  ferry. 

It  was  on  August  22nd,  as  I  have  mentioned,  that  Mr. 
Maverick  left  us  for  San  Antonio,  where  he  was  captured 
and  taken  to  Perote.  During  September,  poor  little  Lewis 
became'  ill  with  typhoid  fever.  Griffin  came  back  about 
this  time  and  returned  on  his  fateful  errand. 

September  29th,  I  received  a  letter  from  my  dear  hus- 
band, now  a  captive.  The  letter  was  written  on  the  eve  of 
their  being  marched  off  to  a  Mexican  dungeon.  It  was 
calm,  cheerful  and  hopeful,  and  counseled  me  to  be  brave, 
to  bear  a  stout  heart,  and  to  take  care  of  myself  and 
the  children. 

November  16th,  we  moved  into  our  own  house,  which 
consisted  of  a  log  cabin  of  one  room  sixteen  by  eighteen 
feet,  one  smaller  for  a  kitchen,  and  a  shed  room  for  Jinny 
and  the  child'ren.  This  house  wras  built  by  Granville  and 
Wiley  with  much  help  from  Mr.  Griff.  Jones,  who  was 
very  kind  to  us.  Lewis  was  now  almost  strong  again.  The 
fever  had  been  severe  with  him,  and  had  so  reduced  him, 
that  he  was  unable  to  stand  up  for  some  time  after  it  had 
left  him. 


MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  79 

My  aunt,  Mrs.  Bradley,  whose  husband  was  also  a  pris- 
oner in  Perote,  came  to  the  Colorado  and  moved  into 
Colonel  Dancys  house,  which  I  had  just  vacated.  She  and 
I  had  some  sad  consolation  conferring  together  over  our 
troubles,  and  comparing  such  news  as  each  of  us  occasion- 
ally received  from  our  imprisoned  husbands  or  from  Dame 
Rumor.  Annie  Bradley  had  gone  to  Alabama  to  visit  her 
relatives.  Mollie  Bradley,  my  sister  Lizzie,  and  Leonora 
Hill,  daughter  of  a  neighbor,  became  intimate  compan- 
ions, rode  much  on  horseback  together,  and  kept  some 
youthful  company  and  cheer  of  life  about  us. 

In  La  Grange  lived  Dr.  Chalmers'  family,  refugees  from 
Austin.  Here  we  met  Thomas  J.  Devine,  a  young  lawyer, 
and  the  Misses  Elder,  one  of  whom  Devine  married.  We 
also  met  George  Hancock  and  Tom  Green. 

As  I  have  said  Mrs.  Elliott  was  in  San  Antonio  when 
Mr.  Maverick  was  captured.  She  visited  the  prisoners  by 
permission,  and  Mr.  Maverick  handed  her  privately 
twenty  gold  doubloons  for  me,  about  $325.00  in  our  mon- 
ey. And  the  money  came  safely  to  me  through  John  W. 
Smith.  This  amount  with  what  I  had  in  the  house  I  tried 
to  make  go  as  far  as  possible.  Coffee,  sugar,  and  flour 
were  very  high,  as  indeed  everything  except  beef,  corn, 
fowls  and  butter.  I  had  the  twenty-six  acre  tract  fenced 
in  and  purchased  some  milch  cows. 

My  brother  William  came  to  see  how  I  was  doing,  and 
stopped  awhile  with  us,  and  worked  with  our  men,  until 
they  built  another  log  cabin,  adjacent  to  the  one  previous- 
ly built,  leaving  a  passage  or  hall  between  them.  In  this 
hall  we  usually  sat  when  the  weather  was  fair.  We  had 
an  immense  live-oak  tree  for  shade,  and  immediately  in 
front  of  the  house  stood  a  "mott"  of  young  live  oak  trees. 
In  fact,  we  made  ourselves  as  comfortable  as  possible 
under  the  circumstances.  William  remained  with  us  as 
long  as  he  could,  and  then  left  for  Alabama. 

In  November  I  received  a  letter  from  my  husband, 
written  October  16th,  at  Monclova  (Montelovez)  Coa- 
huila.  He  had  marched  four  hundred  miles  and  had  eight 


80  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

hundred  more,  as  he  understood,  to  march  before  reach- 
ing the  City  of  Mexico,  where  he  expected  to  be  released. 
My  dear  husband  wrote  to  cheer  me  expressly,  for  he 
spoke  of  his  excellent  health,  and  hopefulness,  but  did  not 
mention  anything  about  the  pens  they  were  herded  in  at 
night,  nor  of  the  other  abuses  they  were  subjected  to. 

I,  however,  was  constantly  fearing  that  the  next  mail 
would  bring  some  dreadful  news  from  the  prisoners — and 
only  when  I  got  an  occasional  letter  so  brave  and  fond, 
from  S.  A.  M.  could  I  hope.  I  tried  to  follow  his  advice, 
and  kept  up  at  times  a  semblance  of  cheerfulness,  but  I 
was  then  only  twenty-four  years  of  age,  and  almost  a 
child  in  experience  and  I  had  the  care  of  three  helpless 
little  children  and  the  birth  of  a  fourth  to  look  to  in  the 
future.  A  refugee  in  a  strange  land  and  my  husband  a 
captive  in  the  power  of  a  cruel  and  treacherous  foe.  Ah, 
then  I  felt — "What  weight  of  agony  the  human  heart  can 
bear."  But  I  strove  to  be  brave  and  prayed  to  God  that 
I  might  live  for  my  children  and  my  dear  husband. 

In  February,  1843, 1  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Maver- 
ick written  January  27th,  at  Perote.  He  mentioned  in  it 
how  badly  they  had  been  treated  in  Satillo — "that  robber 
city  of  thirty  thousand  people,  where  we  were  closely  con- 
fined in  a  filthy  prison  for  fifteen  days" — and  where 
their  captors  threatened  to  take  them  to  some  secret 
place  where  they  would  never  be  heard  from  again.  But 
in  this  letter,  Mr.  Maverick  was  quite  hopeful  of  being 
released  through  the  exertions  of  General  Waddy  Thomp- 
son, then  United  States  Minister  to  Mexico. 

This  letter,  full  of  deep  feeling,  along  with  other  let- 
ters written  by  Mr.  Maverick,  whilst  a  prisoner,  I  have 
carefully  preserved  for  our  children  as  sacred.  I  have 
another  written  December  30th,  1842;  one  written  Febru- 
ary 2nd,  1843,  also  expecting  speedy  release.  Another 
written  March  15th,  contains  the  same  hope,  March 
22nd,  he  wrote  again  stating  that  he  and  W.  E.  Jones  and 
Judge  Anderson  Hutchinson  were  released  from  prison. 
Their  final  release  would  be  received  in  the  City  of  Mex- 


MEMOIES  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  81 

ico.  He  wrote  of  Dr.  Borken,  one  of  "our  San  Antonio 
boys,"  being  shot  by  a  drunken  soldier,  and  told  of  his 
dying  in  great  bodily  pain  and  mental  agony,  and  he 
mentioned  the  death  of  General  Guadalupe  Victoria,  the 
first  President  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico. 

March  30th,  1843,  on  Thursday  morning  our  second 
daughter  was  born — child  of  a  captive  father,  and  for 
him  named  Augusta.  On  the  day  of  her  birth,  her  father 
was  finally  released  by  Santa  Anna  in  the  City  of  Mexico. 
Mr.  Maverick  set  out  for  home  on  the  2nd  of  April, 
and  finally  reached  our  cabin  the  night  of  May  4th,  in 
splendid  health,  and  happy  as  he  could  be  and  so  was  I, 
and  thankful  to  our  Heavenly  Father  for  all  His  mercies. 
Augusta  was  five  weeks  old  when  she  and  her  father  met. 

In  June,  Ada  Bradley  was  born.  In  June  and  again 
September,  Mr.  Maverick  visited  San  Antonio — to  attend 
court  and  land  business. 

on  the  Brazos,  the  capital  of  the  Republic  of  Texas,  and 
In  December,  1843,  Mr  Maverick  went  to  Washington 
attended  the  session  of  the  Eighth  Congress  of  the  Repub- 
lic, as  Senator  from  Bexar.  He  had  been  elected  whilst  in 
Perote  prison.  He  returned  from  Washington  to  spend 
Christmas  with  us  at  home,  and  we,  with  others,  took 
Christmas  dinner  with  the  family  of  Dr.  Chalmers  in  La- 
Grange. 

1844. 

The  Congress  adjourned  on  February  8th,  1844,  and 
that  was  the  last  session  of  the  last  Congress  of  the  Repub- 
lic of  Texas.  Mr.  Maverick  soon  after  left  for  San  An- 
tonio, where  he  attended  the  March  term  of  the  District 
Court,  and  returned  to  us  in  April,  and  then  started  off 
on  a  visit  to  South  Carolina. 

Remarkable  Indian  Fight.  On  June  20th,  1844,  Ma- 
jor Jack  Hays  came  to  see  me  and  gave  me  the  particulars 
of  a  noted  encounter  he  had  had  with  the  Indians  only 
twelve  days  before  he  called  on  me.  The  fight  took  place 
on  June  8th.  Hays,  with  fourteen  men,  was  scouting  on 


82  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVEEICK 

the  Guadalupe  about  fifty  miles  above  Seguin,  (it  must 
have  been  between  the  present  sites  of  Sisterdale  and 
Comfort  in  Kendall  County) .  Whilst  some  of  the  Rangers 
were  cutting  a  bee  tree,  the  spies  galloped  up  with  the 
news  that  a  very  large  party  of  Comanches  were  close 
upon  them.  At  once  the  Rangers  mounted  and  made 
ready — by  this  time  the  Indians  had  formed  in  admirable 
order  on  the  level  top  of  a  hill  near  by.  The  Rangers  fol- 
lowing their  leader,  spurred  forward  in  full  charge,  and, 
when  they  reached  the  foot  of  the  hill  which  was  steep 
and  somewhat  overhanging,  they  found  they  were  no 
longer  in  sight  of  the  enemy.  Taking  advantage  of  this, 
Hays  led  his  men  half  around  the  base  of  the  hill,  still 
out  of  sight,  and  dashed  up  at  a  point  not  expected.  The 
Comanches  had  dismounted,  and  were  kneeling  down 

with  guns  and  arrows  fixed  for  a  deadly  aim.  Strange 
to  say,  Hays  was  close  upon  them  before  they  discovered 
his  stratagem,  and  before  they  could  mount  their  horses, 
the  Rangers  were  in  their  midst — shooting  them  right  and 
left,  with  their  new  revolving  pistols.  But  the  Indians 
were  numerous,  some  sixty-five  or  seventy  warriors,  and 
were  led  by  two  especially  brave  and  daring  chiefs.  The 
chiefs  rallied  their  forces  and  closed  completely  around 
the  Rangers  and  fought  with  great  daring,  but  the  aston- 
ishing "six-shooters"  did  the  work — the  Indians  speedily 
became  demoralized  and  they  broke  and  fled,  leaving 
twenty-three  of  their  comrades  dead  on  the  battle-field 
This  was  opportune,  for  the  loads  were  exhausted  in 
the  six-shooters  of  the  Rangers,  and  they  immediately 
took  advantage  of  the  enemy's  flight  to  reload  their  vig- 
orous little  weapons.  The  Indians,  finding  they  were  not 
pursued,  paused  and  reformed  for  battle.  The  Rangers 
charged  now  with  the  same  result.  The  fight  lasted  near- 
ly an  hour,  the  Indians  fighting  stubbornly  and  retiring 
slowly  and  still  forty  strong-  A  chief  then  made  a  great 
talk  to  his  followers,  rising  in  his  stirrups  and  gesticulat- 
ing— he  rode  up  and  down  their  lines  and  got  them  to 
make  another  desperate  stand. 


SAMUEL    AUGUSTUS    MAVERICK 


MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEEICK  83 

The  Rangers  were  reduced  now  to  e^ven  fighting  men, 
and  Hays  called  out:  "Any  man  who  has  a  load,  kill  that 
chief."  Ad  Gillespie  answered :  'Til  do  it,"  dismounted, 
aimed  carefully  with  his  trusty  yager,  and  shot  the  chief 
dead,  when  a  panic  seized  the  Indians,  and  they  fled  in 
the  utmost  confusion. 

Peter  Fohr  was  killed,  and  four  of  the  Rangers  wound- 
ed and  many  arrows  passed  through  their  hats  and  cloth- 
ing, for  several  thousand  arrows  were  fired  into  their 
midst. 

I  wrote  the  memorandum  of  the  fight  just  after  Major 
Hays  had  related  it-  I  was  much  struck  with  the  odds  in 
the  numbers  of  the  opposing  forces, — fifteen  against  six- 
ty-five or  seventy,  and  with  Hays'  remark  that  "more  than 
thirty  Indians  were  killed." 

Hays  modestly  gave  the  credit  of  the  victory  to  the 
wonderful  marksmanship  of  every  Ranger,  and  the  total 
surprise  to  the  Indians,  caused  by  the  new  six  shooters, 
which  they  had  never  seen  or  heard  of  before. 

I   quote   Colonel   Hays'   closing  'rematrks: 

"We  were  right  glad  they  fled,  for  we  were  nearly 
used  up  with  the  fatigue  of  a  long  day's  march  that  day 
and  the  exertious  on  the  battle-field,  and  we  were  almost 
out  of  ammunition.  The  Indians  made  a  magnificent  fight 
under  the  circumstances.  They  seemed  to  be  a  band  of 
selected  braves  in  full  war-paint,  and  were  led  by  several 
chiefs,  showing  that  they  were  marching  down  upon  the 
settlements,  where  they  would  have  devided  into  parties 
commanded  each  by  a  chief,  and  great  would  have  been 
the  mischief  done  by  such  a  number  of  savages." 

August  llth,  our  dear  little  Agatha  came  near  being 
killed.  Brother  Andrew  came  to  see  us  on  his  way  to 
Alabama,  and,  dismounting,  hitched  his  gentle  horse 
under  the  shade  of  the  large  live  oak  tree.  Some  time 
afterwards,  Agatha  was  playing  near  the  horse's  heels 
when  the  horse,  kicking  at  a  fly,  struck  her  on  the  fore- 
head and  buried  a  small  piece  of  his  hoof  in  her  head. 
She  screamed  and  fell  down  and  when  her  father  picked 


84  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

her  up  she  was  in  convulsions.  We  picked  the  scrap  of 
hoof  out  of  her  forehead,  bathed  her  head  in  cold  water 
and  we  sat  almost  hopeless  at  her  side  awaiting  the  re- 
sult. At  midnight  she  became  quiet  and  went  to  sleep, 
and  just  before  daybreak  she  opened  her  eyes  and  said: 
"Papa,  give  me  a  drink  of  water."  He  said  with  deep 
emotion :  ''Blessed  be  God,"  and  she  was  out  of  danger. 
Under  the  doctor's  advice,  we  took  great  care  of  her, 
and  kept  her  out  of  the  sun  for  some  time. 

In  the  summer  of  1843,  the  balance  of  the  Perote  pris- 
oners received  their  liberation,  and  Mr.  Bradley  soon 
thereafter  reached  his  family.  In  the  summer  of  1844,  Mr. 
Bradley  was  persuaded  to  run  for  Congress.  Whilst  out 
electioneering,  he  was  taken  down  with  a  fever,  of  which 
he  died  September  24th.  Pauline  Bradley  was  also  quite 
ill  at  this  time.  Annie  had  married  Robert  Bibb,  of  Ala- 
bama, and  they  came  out  to  see  Aunt. Ann  directly  after 
Mr.  Bradley's  death.  When  Mrs.  Bibb  returned  to  Ala- 
bama, Mrs.  Bradley  with  her  children  took  her  negroes 
and  moved  out  to  San  Antonio.  Mrs.  Bradley  was  self 
reliant,  and  she  determined  to  provide  for  the  large  fam- 
ily left  in  her  widowed  care.  How  ably  and  successfully 
she  performed  that  difficult  task  is  quite  well  known. 

For  some  weeks  after  her  accident,  Agatha  was  quite 
pale  and  she  had  a  long  and  severe  chill  about  the  first  of 
September.  The  doctor  gave  her  quinine  and  she  was 
soon  a  perfect  picture  of  rosy  health.  Sam  had  a  spell  of 
chills  and  fever,  and  I  became  at  last  quite  sickly  myself 
during  the  summer.  In  fact,  I  became  much  reduced  and 
was  an  invalid  all  the  fall. 

We  concluded  it  would  not  do  to  live  here  any  longer; 
the  Colorado  bottoms  were  too  unhealthy.  Mr.  Maverick 
decided  to  take  us  to  the  Gulf  Coast  where  we  could  enjoy 
sea  bathing. 


MEMOIES  OF  MARY  A.  MAVEEICK  85 


Chapter  XIII. 
LIFE  ON  THE  PENINSULA. 

Pass,  or  waterway,  which  connects  Matagorda 
Bay  with  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  is  bounded  on  the 
south  by  Matagorda  Island,  the  northern  extre- 
mity of  which  is  named  Saluria,  and  on  the  north  by  De- 
crows  Point,  which  is  the  southwestern  extremity  of  the 
Peninsula.  The  pass  is  called  Paso  Caballo,  and  it  is  about 
three  miles  from  Decrows  Point  to  Saluria. 

The  Peninsula  extends  northeastwardly  from  Decrows 
Point,  a  distance  of  about  fifty  miles  to  the  main  land. 
Where  the  Peninsula  joins  the  main  land,  Caney  Creek 
formerly  emptied  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  but  the  creek 
has  been  diverted  by  means  of  a  canal  and  now  empties 
its  scanty  waters  into  the  northern  arm  of  Matagorda 
Bay.  The  Peninsula  is  a  dreary,  sandy  flat,  having  an 
average  width  of  about  two  miles;  at  the  middle  of  this 
elongated  strip  of  land  is  Tiltona,  which  was  our  farm. 
We  lived  at  Decrows  Point  from  December  7th,  1844, 
until  October  15th,  1847,  when  we  returned  to  San  An- 
tonio. 

On  November  15th,  1844,  we  deserted  our  temporary 
home  on  the  Colorado,  and  set  out  for  Decrows  Point. 
We  had  a  carriage  and  two  hired  wagons,  some  saddle 
horses  and  seven  cows.  I  was  an  invalid  during  the  whole 
trip,  and  travelled  lying  down  in  the  carriage.  A  wide 
board  was  laid  from  the  front  to  the  back  seat  of  the 
large  roomy  carriage,  and  quilts  and  pillows  were  be- 
stowed where  they  would  give  me  the  most  comfort.  The 
driver's  seat  was  on  the  outside.  My  dear  little  girls  were 
generally  with  me,  and  sometimes  Lizzie,  but  she  usually 


86  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.   MAVERICK 

preferred  to  ride  on  horseback  with  Mr.  Maverick.  Sam 
and  Lewis  rode  in  a  wagon.  We  spent  the  first  night  in 
LaGrange  at  Mrs.  Angus  McNeil's,  a  third  or  fourth  cous- 
in of  mine. 

16th,  got  started  in  the  afternoon  and  travelled  only 
a  few  miles  and  camped.  It  rained  and  stormed  all  that 
night,  and  the  next  morning  we  started  off  in  a  norther. 

17th,  five  miles  to  Rutersville.  Mrs.  Butler  took  us  in, 
and  she  and  Mrs.  Robb  were  very  kind.  We  established 
ourselves  in  a  vacant  house  and  waited  for  the  weather 
to  moderate. 

November  21st,  twelve  miles  to  Breedings. 

November  22nd,  eight  miles  to  Ohmburg's;  23rd,  eight- 
een miles  to  Alley's;  24th,  sixteen  miles  to  Major  Mont- 
gomery's; 25th,  eighteen  miles  to  Crawford's  (Spanish 
Springs),  26th,sixteen  miles  to  Cayce's;  27th,  six  miles  to 
Dawson's  (wiggle-tail  mud  pond,  awfully  dirty  water)  ; 
28th,  six  miles  to  Captain  John  Duncan's;  took  dinner,  and 
six  miles  to  Mrs.  Hardeman's,  where  we  spent  the  night ; 
29th,  six  miles  to  Rindrick's,  kindest  people  of  all ;  took 
dinner  here,  and  eight  miles  to  Shepherd's,  which  is  two 
miles  into  the  swamps;  30th,  awful  roads,  swamps  con- 
tinuously, crossed  three  sloughs,  in  the  last  one  of  which 
Granville's  wagon  stalled  and  one  ox  fell.  He  beat  the 
ox  awfully,  and  then  they  prized  him  out  and  doubled 
teams  and  got  through.  Made  eight  miles  today  and 
camped.  In  the  night  it  rained  and  a  norther  blew  up, 
and  we  all  got  cold  and  wet. 

December  1st,  Sunday,  five  miles  to  the  new  canal, 
crossed  it  with  great  difficulty,  and  camped.  2nd,  half 
a  mile  to  a  vacant  house,  where  we  camped.  3rd,  one 
mile,  came  to  Gulf  of  Mexico — magnificent,  calm,  gent- 
ly heaving  water,  and  fourteen  miles  on  the  beautiful, 
smooth,  hard  beach,  where  we  saw  many  bright  shells. 
4th,  six  miles  to  Mrs.  Love's,  where  we  took  dinner,  and 
five  miles  to  Sergeant's  and  camped.  Mrs.  Sergeant  gave 
us  fresh  butter-milk  and  butter  and  some  coffee.  5th, 
seven  miles  in  an  awful  north  wind  and  rain,  but  we  all 


MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  87 

lived  through  it,  and  camped  in  a  shanty.  6th,  eighteen 
miles  and  we  camped  on  the  beach.  It  was  cold  and  the 
smoke  of  the  camp  fire  intolerable.  I  lost  all  admiration 
for  the  "deep  and  dark  blue  ocean,"  and  was  most  mis- 
erable and  sick. 

On  December  7th,  we  travelled  seven  miles  to  De- 
crows  Point — still  in  a  brisk  norther,  but  delighted  to  ar- 
rive at  our  journey's  end,  and  have  rest  once  more.  We 
moved  into  a  house  occupied  by  Judge  and  General  Som- 
erville,  the  arrangement  being  that  we  should  keep  house 
and  furnish  them  board,  they  to  retain  a  portion  of  the 
house.  General  Somerville  was  the  Revenue  Officer  for 
the  Port — collector  of  revenue.  The  house  was  very  close 
to  the  bay,  and  every  evening  Mr.  Maverick  took  me  down 
to  bathe  in  the  salt  water. 

December  12th.  Had  the  pleasure  of  an  introduction 
to  His  Highness  Charles  Solm  Solm,  son  of  the  Grand 
Duke  of  Braunfels,  and  who  was  on  his  way  to  the  Col- 
ony of  New  Braunfels  of  which  he  was  the  founder.  The 
Prince  and  suite  spent  a  day  and  night  with  us,  and  the 
Somervilles.  Next  evening  he  came  near  to  land  in  his 
vessel  and  serenaded  us. 

General  Somerville  was  a  noted  laugher — he  saw  the 
Prince's  two  attendants  dress  his  Highness,  that  is  lift 
him  into  his  pants,  and  General  Somerville  was  so  over- 
come by  the  sight  that  he  broke  out  into  one  of  his  famous 
fits  of  laughter,  and  was  heard  all  over  the  Point.  The 
Prince  and  suite  were  all  very  courteous  and  polite  to  us. 
They  wore  cock  feathers  in  their  hats,  and  did  not  appear 
quite  fitted  to  frontier  life. 

1845. 

We  had  a  block  of  ground  fenced  in,  and  early  in  1845 
we  planted  a  garden.  It  was  wonderful  how  every  thing 
grew,  and  what  fine  vegetables  we  had  and  what  deli- 
cious watermelons !  Flowers,  grapevines  and  orange  trees 
flourished  luxuriantly. 

In  March,  Agatha's  clothes  caught  on  fire,  but  Jack 


88  MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK 

threw  a  bucket  of  water  on  her  and  put  the  fire  out,  be- 
fore she  was  badly  burned.  She  was  quite  sore  for  sev- 
eral weeks  afterwards. 

June  llth,  Mr.  Maverick  visited  San  Antonio,  and  was 
gone  six  weeks.  On  his  return  he  took  a  sail  boat  at  La- 
vaca,  and  before  they  had  gotten  out  of  sight  of  Lavaca 
a  sudden  squall  capsized  the  boat,  and  he  with  several 
other  passengers  came  very  near  being  drowned — but 
being  still  near  enough  to  Lavaca  to  be  seen  with  the 
spyglass,  they  were  observed  and  a  small  boat  put  out 
immediately,  and  rescued  them  just  before  dark.  I  am 
told  by  Mr.  Dawson,  now  in  Mr.  Grenet's  store,  in  San 
Antonio,  that  he  was  one  of  the  rescuing  party. 

During  this  month,  Mary  McNeil  came  to  see  us.  She 
and  her  uncle,  Henry  McNeil,  were  on  their  way  to  her 
mother's  old  home  in  Mississippi,  where  Mary  was  to  at- 
tend school. 

One  afternoon  the  McNeils  with  General  Somerville, 
Lizzie,  Mr.  Maverick  and  myself  and  Sam  and  Lewis 
went  sailing  on  the  bay,  as  we  frequently  did  for  pleasure, 
or  to  fish,  or  to  gather  gulls'  eggs  on  the  islets.  The  day 
was  beautiful  and  we  sailed  seven  or  eight  miles  when 
we  noticed  a  fog  gathering,  and,  since  we  had  not  a  pilot 
as  we  usually  had  aboard,  we  hastened  to  tack  about  and 
return,  with  General  Somerville,  a  pretty  good  sailor,  at 
the  helm.  But  the  fog  came  on  so  rapidly,  and  grew  so 
dense  that  we  could  not  see  ten  yards  beyond  the  boat, 
and  were  soon  satisfied  that  we  were  lost.  We  tacked, 
and  we  tacked,  and  we  tacked  again,  but  to  no  avail,  we 
couldn't  find  our  way  out — and  we  were  right  glad  when, 
about  ten  o'clock  that  night,  we  ran  well  aground.  We 
remained  there  safely  until  daylight.  We  ladies  were 
much  alarmed,  besides  being  damp,  cold  a$d  hungry, 
and  we  at  last  crowded  into  a  diminutive  cabin  to  avoid 
a  drizzling  rain  which  now  set  in.  Sam  and  Lewis  were 
gotten  to  sleep  quite  early.  The  gentlemen  h^led  in  the 
sails  and  made  bed  covers  with  them  and  went  to  sleep. 
Lizzie  and  Mary  also  slept,  but  I  lay  awake  all  night 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  89 

listening  to  the  wash  of  the  waves,  and  the  roar  of  the 
breakers  at  the  Pass,  and  I  hailed  with  delight  the 
dawn  of  day.  General  Somerville  declared  we  were 
twelve  miles  from  home,  on  the  mainland  on  the  west 
side  of  the  bay.  The  gentlemen  got  out  into  the  water, 
pushed  the  boat  off,  and  it  was  still  early  morning  when 
we  hove  to  and  greeted  the  anxious  faces  of  our  friends. 
Some  of  the  people  at  the  Point  feared  we  werQ  drowned, 
others  blew  fog  horns  and  built  big  fires  on  the  coast  and 
kept  them  burning  all  night,  but  we  had  neither  heard  nor 
seen  anything.  We  were  all  thankful  to  get  safely  back 
and  put  on  dry  clothing,  and  we  attacked  the  warm  break- 
fast with  great  gusto.  I  was  delighted  to  see  Agatha  and 
Augusta,  and  I  was  told  the  poor  little  things  had  cried 
themseives  to  sleep  the  night  before.  No  one  suffered 
any  harm  from  the  exposure,  and  our  experience  of  the 
night  gave  us  many  hearty  laughs  thereafter. 

July,  1845-  Thank  God,  we  are  now  annexed  to  the 
United  States,  and  can  hope  for  home  and  quiet.  Mr. 
Smith,  American  Consul  in  Saluria,  was  drowned  in  a 
bayou  which  he  was  attempting  to  cross,  and  his  poor 
wife,  an  amiable,  nice  lady,  left  desolate  and  alone.  We 
went  over  to  see  her,  and  Lizzie  and  Cora  Vandever 
spent  some  time  with  her. 

August  13th.  Our  family  took  quite  an  excursion  up 
the  bay.  Went  up  Lavaca  bay  and  landed  opposite  La- 
vaca  at  Tres  Palacios  (Cox's  Point),  where  Mr.  Maverick 
had  long  since  purchased  an  interest  in  the  land,  as  I 
have  mentioned  in  Chapter  III.  This  we  found  a  beauti- 
ful site.  Twenty  Matagordians  were  here  for  the  bathing, 
and  we  spent  a  few  days  at  Captain  Grimes's.  Dr.  Farque- 
har  had  a  nice  residence  here  and  a  garden  of  pretty 
flowers  and  rare  plants  and  fruits. 

We  rented  a  house  opposite  the  Levy's,  and  in  the  same 
block  with  the  family  of  Mr.  Forrester,  who  had  been  a 
Perote  prisoner  with  Mr.  Maverick.  At  that  time,  Mata- 
gorda  had  probably  the  most  cultivated  society  in  the 
state.  Matagorda  then  had  good  schools,  several 


90  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

churches,  and  many  well-to-do  people,  who  had  planta- 
tions on  the  Caney  and  Colorado,  where  the  summers 
were  quite  unhealthful,  had  their  summer  residences 
here.  Reverend  Caleb  Ives  was  the  Episcopal  Minister. 
His  wife,  when  she  was  Miss  Kenneer,  had  been  my  teach- 
er in  Tuskaloosa.  They  had  charge  of  the  academy  for 
young  ladies  in  Matagorda. 

On  Sunday,  September  7th,  1845,  at  seven  p.  m.,  our 
fifth  child,  George  Madison,  was  born. 

August  first,  Miss  Annie,  daughter  of  Rhodes  Fisher, 
was  married  to  Mr.  J.  W.  Dallam.  Mr.  Maverick  and 
Lizzie  went  to  the  wedding,  and  to  several  parties  given 
to  the  married  couple  by  friends  in  Matagorda. 

October  25th,  we  all  returned  by  Schooner  "Mary"  to 
Decrows  Point,  and  had  a  house  to  ourselves. 

October  28th,  Mr.  Maverick  and  Lizzie  left  by  Schooner 
"Mary"  for  New  Orleans — Lizzie  to  Tuskaloosa  for  the 
winter,  and  Mr.  Maverick  on  business. 

1846. 

The  19th,  January,  we  had  a  tempest. 

January  28th,  Mr.  Lucius  W.  Peck  came  out,  on  Mr. 
Maverick's  advice,  to  teach  school.  He  came  to  our  house, 
sent  hither  by  Mr.  Maverick  whom  Mr.  Peck  had  left 
quite  well  in  New  Orleans. 

March  17th,  Mr.  Maverick  returned  after  an  absence 
of  nearly  five  months.  He  took  Lizzie  to  Tuskaloosa 
and  remained  there  several  weeks  on  business.  Thence 
he  went  to  Pendleton,  where  he  visited  Father  Maverick, 
and  he  found  it  "cruel  to  leave  him  in  his  precarious 
health."  He  remained  with  his  father  two  weeks,  and 
received  "his  last  sad  embrace  and  blessing."  From 
Pendleton  he  went  to  Charleston,  where  he  was  detained 
by  vexatious  business  one  month.  At  Charleston  he 
bought  four  negroes — viz:  Frances  and  her  boy  Simon, 
Naoma,  a  seamstress,  and  William,  a  carpenter.  He 
wanted  the  carpenter  because  he  had  bought  a  one-third 
interest  in  Decrows  Point  and  intended  to  erect  some 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  91 

houses.  This  purchase  of  negroes  in  Charleston  soon 
proved  to  be  a  perfectly  worthless  investment.  When  Mr. 
Maverick  reached  New  Orleans,  he  chartered  a  schooner, 
which  he  loaded  with  lumber  for  the  improvements  he 
intended  to  make  at  the  Point,  and  on  February  4th,  he 
found  it  necessary  to  go  to  Mobile  to  complete  his  pur- 
chases. On  March  9th,  he  left  Mobile  for  Decrows  Point 
on  the  chartered  schooner,  "Urbana,"  Captain  Small.  On 
board  he  had  the  negroes  and  the  lumber  and  some 
goods  and  provisions.  They  had  a  stormy  passage  and 
narrow  escape  from  going  down  during  a  gale.  They  en- 
tered Matagorda  Bay,  March  17th,  happy  to  be  with 
us  again  and  gladly  welcomed.  Lewis  cut  a  big  "L"  in 
one  of  the  new  chairs  with  his  new  knife  first  thing.  Mr. 
Peck  taught  Sam  and  Lewis  regularly  at  this  time. 

Dr.  Gray  Jones  Houston  and  his  brother  Ross  visited 
Texas  during  the  winter  of  1845-6.  They  came  to  see  us 
in  March  1846,  and  spent  a  few  days  with  us.  Mr.  Mav- 
erick was  in  New  Orleans  at  the  time.  It  was  about  the 
15th,  when  the  north  wind  blew  almost  a  gale  and  the 
bay  rose  very  high,  and  the  water  of  the  bay  seemed  high- 
er than  the  land,  as  it  was  driven  southward  through  the 
Pass.  The  Houstons  had  decided  to  remove  with  their 
families  and  worldly  goods  from  Alabama  to  Texas,  but 
Dr.  Houston  said  he  would  not  settle  on  the  Peninsula,  at 
any  rate,  for  he  considered  life  quite  unsafe  here. 

March  18th.  The  "Petrel"  wrecked  with  two  hundred 
German  immigrants  aboard.  All  lives  saved  by  Captain 
Simptorn  of  the  revenue  cutter  "Alert."  Mrs.  Neil,  of 
San  Antonio,  was  aboard.  About  this  time,  I  learned  of 
the  marriage  of  my  brother  William  to  L-  A.  Goodman, 
in  Freestone  County  at  Troy  on  the  Trinity  River.  There 
he  was  established  as  a  merchant.  My  brother  George 
M.  Adams  died  April  26th,  1846,  in  Aberdeen,  Mississip- 
pi, of  congestive  chills.  He  was  twenty-eight  years  of  age. 
He  was  an  affectionate,  good  brother  and  a  courageous 
man. 

In  June  and  July,  we  were  gladdened  by  the  news  of 


92  MEMOIBS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEEICK 

the  two  brilliant  victories  gained  by  General  Taylor  at 
Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la  Palma. 

In  June,  Lewis,  Agatha  and  Augusta  had  the  whooping 
cough.  In  September,  every  one  of  the  children  had  the 
measles — Lewis  was  quite  sick,  and  George  had  sore  ears 
afterwards.  Augusta  was  packed  in  a  wet  sheet  to  com- 
pel the  measles  to  the  surface.  During  September,  the 
smallpox  being  prevalent,  the  children  were  all  vaccina- 
ted and  all  took  well.  In  October,  Mrs.  Maggie  Peareson 
(nee  Shortridge)  spent  some  time  at  the  Pass  for  her  lit- 
tle girl's  health.  They  were  living  at  that  time  in  Victoria. 
She  boarded  at  Mrs.  Vandever's  across  the  street  from 
us.  We  were  great  friends  and  spent  many  hours  togeth- 
er. Parties  from  the  country  often  came  to  the  Pass,  to 
fish  and  bathe  and  get  away  from  mosquitoes,  for  we  had 
none,  and  were  always  cool. 

November  llth,  Mr.  Maverick  visited  San  Antonio.  He 
wrote  of  Charley  Bradley's  death  of  measles,  and  he 
stated  there  was  much  sickness  in  town,  probably  aggra- 
vated by  the  fevers  and  dysenteries  of  the  soldiers  in  the 
camps,  and  by  the  continued  ill  health  of  the  German  im- 
migrants, and  that  many  deaths  had  occurred.  In  Decem- 
ber Mr.  Maverick  bought  the  Nixon  house  and  two  lots. 

1847. 

January  3d,  1847,  Mr.  Maverick  returned  from  San 
Antonio.  I  had  heard  many  rumors  of  Indians  on  the 
road,  and  had  suffered  much  uneasiness. 

February  18th,  Lizzie  and  Andrew  arrived  from  Tuska- 
loosa.  Lizzie  had  grown  much  improved  and  was  fine 
looking  and  fashionably  dressed.  Andrew  had  his  diplo- 
ma with  him  and  was  now  a  regular  M.  D.  The  next  day 
after  his  arrival,  Andrew  started  for  his  old  place  on  the 
San  Marcos. 

Purchase  of  Tiltona.  March  16th,  Mr.  Maverick  went 
to  Tilton's  place,  twenty-five  miles  up  the  Peninsula,  and 
bought  it  and  four  hundred  head  of  cattle  at  $3.00  per 
head.*  The  place  had  an  oyster  bayou  belonging  to  it 

*See  story  and  letters  at   end  of  book. 


MEMOIES  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  93 

and  pens  for  cattle,  and  there  was  a  field  in  cultivation 
and  some  fine  fig  trees  on  the  grounds. 

March  19th,  Friday,  in  the  afternoon,  Mr.  Maverick 
was  going  up  the  stairway  in  the  new  house  he  was  build- 
ing for  our  residence,  when  he  tripped  on  a  loose  step  and 
fell  twelve  feet  on  the  ground — striking  on  his  shoulder. 
He  was  picked  up  insensible  and  brought  in,  his  shoulder 
sprained  terribly  and  neck  twisted.  When  revived,  he 
suffered  agony  for  hours.  We  gave  him  twenty  drops  of 
laudanum  and  bathed  the  breast  and  shoulder  with  hot 
brandy  and  laudanum.  We  then  also  rubbed  the  bruised 
shoulder  with  mustard  and  placed  hot  bricks  at  his  feet. 
He  could  not  move,  but  felt  some  relief  during  the  night 
and  slept  a  little.  After  that  he  had  fever  and  we  used 
wet  bandages.  On  the  21st,  he  could  move  his  head  and 
shoulder  and  became  cheerful  and  his  appetite  returned. 
He  was  fed  from  a  spoon,  and  he  gradually  gained 
strength — we  had  to  rub  the  bruised  place  often  and 
much,  which  seem  to  soothe  the  pain.  Not  until  April 
7th,  was  he  able  to  get  up  and  walk. 

March  25th,  Mr.  McFee  was  upset  in  a  small  boat  up 
the  bay  and  his  body  was  picked  up  at  Indian  Point. 

April  1st — bright  and  warm — planted  many  garden 
seeds. 

April  2nd,  Jinny  and  Jack  with  Jane,  Harriet  and 
Laura  went  to  Tiltona  to  take  charge  of  the  place.  Wiley 
and  Rachael  and  Rachael's  child  had  some  time  previous- 
ly been  conveyed  to  Mr.  Decrow  in  part  payment  for  one- 
third  interest  in  the  town  site  of  Decrows  Point. 

In  April,  we  moved  into  our  new  frame  house  of  eight 
rooms  and  three  stories.  The  house  was  very  substantial- 
ly built,  and  was  calculated  to  resist  a  very  considerable 
storm.  It  was  very  roomy  and  commanded  a  fine  view  of 
both  the  bay  and  the  gulf.  We  had  been  living  for  three 
months  previously  in  the  kichen  and  outhouses  of  this 
building.  So  we  all  enjoyed  greatly  the  new,  clean,  cool, 
roomy  house.  We  lived  well  on  the  coast,  had  any  quan- 
tity of  fish,  always  fine,  had  fruits  fresh  from  New  Or- 


94  MEMOIRS  ,OF  MABY  A.   MAVERICK 

leans  and  splendid  gardens  and  the  best  water  melons  in 
the  world  and  never  suffered  from  the  heat-  And  still  we 
were  aware  great  storms  might  come  and  destructive  cy- 
clones at  equinoxial  times,  and  we  often  talked  of  going 
back  to  San  Antonio. 

April  13th,  we  heard  General  Scott  was  marching  from 
Vera  Cruz  towards  the  City  of  Mexico. 

April  12th,  Mr.  Maverick  went  to  Matagorda  to  try  the 
galvanic  battery  on  his  still  suffering  shoulder,  and  re- 
turned the  16th,  much  benefitted. 

April  22nd,  Mr.  Maverick  left  for  San  Antonio  to  be 
gone  three  weeks.  He  wrote  me  that  Colonel  Hays  was 
married  on  April  24th,  at  Seguin  to  Miss  Susan  Calvert, 
and  that  on  May  1st,  a  large  party  of  San  Antonians  met 
them  on  the  Salado  and  gave  them  a  grand  ovation.  Mr. 
Giulbeau  gave  a  party  and  reception  to  Colonel  Hays  and 
bride.  Mr.  Maverick  mentioned  that  six  or  seven  hun- 
dred soldiers  were  mustering  at  San  Antonio,  to  be  form- 
ed into  a  regiment  and  to  march  to  Mexico  under  Colonel 
Hays,  and  stated  also  that  there  was  a  great  increase  in 
the  American  population  of  the  town. 

April  25th,  we  all  took  a  trip  to  Tiltona,  Cora  Vandever 
and  Mr.  Peck  accompanying  us.  The  girls  were  on  horse- 
back, and  I  with  the  children  in  the  cart  with  Mr.  Peck 
driving.  We  spent  a  delightful  week  drinking  fresh  milk, 
fishing,  bathing  in  the  breakers,  riding  and  having  a  gen- 
eral good  time.  We  returned  May  1st,  and  took  home 
with  us  chickens  and  turkeys,  butter  and  eggs,  fresh  beef 
and  other  farm  products. 

May  1st,  fourteen  lots  were  sold  for  eight  hundred 
dollars  in  "Cahoun"  across  the  Pass. 

May  2nd,  $1200.00  worth  of  lots  were  sold  here  in 
Paso  Cavallo,  and  it  seems  they  are  to  be  improved. 

July  3d,  Mrs.  Vandever  and  I  with  the  girls  and  escort- 
ed by  Major  Stores  and  Captain  Cummings,  went  to  La- 
vaca  to  attend  the  Grand  Fourth  of  July  Ball.  Mr.  Mav- 
erick remained  at  home  with  the  children.  At  Lavaca 
the  girls  had  numerous  beaux  and  a  fine  time.  We  re- 


MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEEICK  95 

turned  by  the  way  of  Dutch  town  (now  Indianola)  a  thriv- 
ing place,  and  at  that  time  threatening  to  deprive  Lavaca 
of  her  large  trade.  At  Lavaca  we  stopped  at  Mrs.  Eberle's 
and  at  Dutch  Town  with  the  family  of  Reverend  Mr.  Blair. 
July  15th,  we  took  a  boat  and  visited  our  farm  Tiltona,  re- 
turning on  the  26th.  Robert  J.  Clow  and  John  Mann 
courted  Lizzie,  who  had  much  attention — they  both  got 
"no"  for  their  answer,  but  Bob  Clow  said  he  believed  she 
meant  "yes"  for  him.  September,  Cora  Vandever  was  mar- 
ried  to  Billy  Nichols,  a  pilot  and  a  good  man. 


96  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 


Chapter  XIV. 
THE  ANGEL  OF  DEATH. 

UT  after  all  the  Peninsula  was  not  home  to  us  in 
the  full  sense  of  that  word.  Mr.  Maverick  was 
constantly  returning  to  San  Antonio  on  business, 
each  visit  he  was  making  new  investments  and 
knitting  his  interest  and  his  sentiments  more  and  more 
with  the  life  and  growth  of  San  Antonio  and  the  surround- 
ing country.  To  me  the  four  years  of  our  early  married 
life  spent  in  San  Antonio  seemed  like  a  bright  vision — a 
veritable  romance.  The  memory  of  the  stirring  events 
of  that  period  and  of  the  birth  of  my  Lewis  and  Agatha 
there,  kept  my  affections  warm  for  the  dear  old  place. 

On  the  15th  day  of  October  1847,  with  bag  and  bag- 
gage, we  left  the  Point  and  set  off  for  San  Antonio.  It 
was  right  sad  to  leave  a  pleasant  home  and  the  friends 
we  had  gathered  during  three  years,  and  not  the  least 
regret  was  it  to  say  goodbye  to  Mr.  Peck,  who  had  taught 
our  children  faithfully  for  two  years  and  been  a  member 
of  our  household,  but  his  health  was  re-established  and  he 
obeyed  the  urgent  requests  of  his  mother  to  return  to  her 
in  his  native  state.  He  was  quite  anxious  to  go  with  us  to 
San  Antonio,  but  he  parted  with  us  at  the  Pass  and  re- 
turned to  Ohio. 

At  Lavaca  we  stopped  at  Mrs.  Staunton's  until  the  19th, 
when  Lizzie  and  I,  with  Agatha,  and  George  and  his  nurse 
Betsy  took  the  stage  for  San  Antonio — my  first  stage  ride 
in  Texas.  Mr.  Maverick,  Sam,  Lewis  and  the  servants 
took  passage  with  the  wagons  and  our  household  goods 
and  we  did  not  see  them  again  until  November  4th.  We 
spent  the  first  night  in  Victoria  with  Maggie  Pearson,  the 


MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  97 

second  in  Cuero  at  Cardwell's.  On  the  21st,  we  stopped  in 
Gonzales  with  Mrs.  Brown.  It  rained  all  night  and  until 
nine  the  next  morning.  The  22nd,  we  went  only  a  short 
distance  and  stopped  with  old  lady  Trimble.  Mrs.  Trim- 
ble had  lived  here  over  twenty  years,  and  had  herself 
fought  the  Indians.  Her  first  husband  had  been  killed, 
and  her  second  husband  fell  in  the  Alamo.  Three  months 
after  his  death,  she  gave  birth  to  twin  girls,  now  eleven 
years  old.  An  older  daughter's  husband  had  fallen  with 
Dawson  and  she  had  given  birth,  seven  weeks  after  his 
death  to  a  girl  and  had  died.  The  pretty  child  was  five 
years  old  when  we  were  there  and  the  idol  of  her  fond 
grandmother. 

The  23rd,  we  reached  New  Braunfels  at  the  junction 
of  the  Comal  with  the  Guadalupe.  This  was  a  pretty 
place,  and  rapidly  filling  up,  and  I  thought  the  Comal  th« 
lovliest  stream  I  ever  saw. 

Sunday,  October  24th,  at  three  p.  m.,  we  arrived  in  San 
Antonio,  and  stopped  at  Aunt  Ann  Bradley  Vat  the  south 
east  corner  of  Commerce  and  Yturri  Streets — everything 
covered  with  dust  and  the  heat  dreadful.  The  town  seem- 
ed much  changed  since  1842;  many  strangers  had  settled 
here  and  immigrants  were  arriving  daily.  Not  until 
November  4th,  did  Mr.  Maverick's  party  arrive — the  hired 
wagoners  insisted  on  stopping  five  days  at  their  home  on 
the  way,  and  I  had  time  to  grow  very  uneasy  about  them 
— but  all  were  well  and  we  moved  directly  into  our  old 
home  with  its  dirt  floors,  for  the  cement  had  all  worn  off. 
The  fence  around  the  garden  was  nearly  gone  and  the 
garden  itself  was  in  a  dilapidated  condition,  but  the  figs 
and  the  pomegranates  were  still  standing.  The  weather 
grew  quite  cold,  and  we  learned  that  many  people  were 
sick  with  colds  and  diarrhea,  and  almost  every  day  some- 
body died,  which  made  us  quite  doleful.  I  recalled  our 
first  residence  in  San  Antonio,  and  it  seemed  that  in  those 
days  there  was  scarcely  any  sickness  and  postively  no 
case  of  fever,  save  the  case  of  Colonel  Karnes  which  was 


98  MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEEICK 

yellow  fever  imported  from  Houston.  Now,  all  of  our 
children  suffered  some  illness. 

Late  in  November,  Lewis  was  spinning  a  top  at  the 
front  door  and  George  was  sitting  on  the  door  sill,  when 
Lewis'  top  bounced  up  and  struck  George  on  the  forehead. 
George  went  into  spasms,  but  we  packed  him  in  a  wet 
sheet  and  blankets  and  he  got  well,  but  he  was  quite  low 
for  a  week  or  so  and  he  has  ever  retained  the  scar. 

December  first,  brother  Andrew,  surgeon  in  Captain 
Veach's  company,  spent  a  few  days  with  us  on  his  way  to 
the  Rio  Grande. 

On  Friday,  December  24th,  our  sixth  chM,  Willie  H., 
was  born.  The  joyous  bells  of  Christmas  Eve  were  ring- 
ing when  he  was  born. 

1848. 

April  4th,  1848,  Mr.  Maverick  left  with  Mr.  Tivy,  de- 
puty surveyor,  and  a  considerable  surveying  party,  to  have 
a  pet  location  on  Las  Moras  creek  surveyed.  He  located 
our  headright  certificate  on  the  head  spring,  and  Fort 
Clark  is  on  that  tract — he  also  located  much  land  below 
that  survey. 

April  29th,  Mr.  Clow  came  to  marry  Lizzie,  although 
she  has  not  set  the  day. 

The  Angel  of  Death.  Sunday,  April  30th,  my  dear 
little  Agatha  took  fever.  Lizzie  and  I  with  the  girls  and 
Betsy  with  the  baby  were  out  walking  and  we  were  near 
the  Mill  Bridge  when  she  first  complained.  I  told  Betsy  to 
take  baby  and  go  home  with  her,  when  Agatha  said:  "O, 
if  my  papa  was  here  he  would  carry  me."  At  this  time 
Agatha  was  a  large  and  very  beautiful  child  of  seven 
years.  She  was  the  idol  of  her  father,  and  in  return  for 
his  devoted  affection  for  her,  she  idolized  him.  The 
sentiment  of  love  between  Mr.  Maverick  and  the  sweet 
child  was  something  extraordinary,  something  beautiful 
and  touching  to  behold. 

When  I  got  home,  I  bathed  her  in  tepid  water  and  cared 
tenderly  for  her,  but  on  the  following  day  she  grew  much 


SAN    ANTONIO    RIVER    BACK   OF   TWOHIG    HOME 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  99 

worse,  and  I  called  in  the  services  of  Dr.  Cupples.  He 
gave  her  an  emetic  and  then  powders  and  enemas,  but 
nothing  seemed  to  reduce  the  fever  or  overcome  the  stu- 
por. Day  by  day,  Dr.  Cupples  encouraged  me  to  hope,  but 
I  lost  my  appetite  and  passed  many  sleepless  nights,  for  a 
terrible  fear  took  possession  of  me.  My  fears  whispered 
in  my  heart,  "Agatha  is  dying,"  and  I  lost  hope. 

The  poor  child,  with  crimson  cheek  and  shining  eyes, 
sometimes  raved  wildly — once  she  screamed  out  in 
agonizing  manner:  "Oh,  Sam,"  she  thought  she  saw  In- 
dians about  to  kill  Sam.  When  she  took  her  medicine, 
(the  first  in  her  life)'  she  would  say:  "Mamma,  will  you 
tell  papa  I  was  good  and  took  my  medicine?"  Once  she 

said,  "Mamma  if  I  die "  but  I  could  not  bear  it — I 

stopped  her  before  she  could  speak  another  word.  Ah, 
how  often  have  I  regretted  my  action,  and  fondly  longed 
to  know  what  the  dear  angel  would  have  told  me.  Her 
father  was  still  out  on  his  surveying  expedition  on  the 
Las  Moras,  and  we  had  no  means  of  cummunicating  with 
him.  On  May  8th,  the  poor  child  breathed  her  last  at 
two  a.  m.,  Tuesday,  May  9th,  1848.  Even  now,  in  1880, 
after  thirty-two  years,  I  cannot  dwell  on  that  terrible  be- 
reavement. The  child  was  the  perfection  of  sweetness 
and  beauty  and  possessed  such  a  glad  and  joyous  dis- 
position that  her  very  presence  was  a  flood  of  sunshine. 

On  May  12th,  Augusta  took  the  same  bilious  fever, 
which  quite  a  number  of  people  in  the  town  had  at  the 
time.  Dr.  Sturgis  came  and  treated  her  for  two  days, 
when  she  recovered  and  in  a  short  while  became  quite 
well  again.  We  now  learned  from  the  servants  that  our 
nurse  Lavinia  and  Mrs.  Bradley's  nurse  had  taken  Aga- 
tha and  Augusta  and  Mrs.  Bradley's  girls  Pauline  and 
Ada,  on  April  25th,  out  walking  and  had  allowed  them  to 
eat  as  many  green  mustang  grapes  as  they  would.  I  have 
always  attributed  Agatha's  death  and  Augusta's  deadly 
sickness  to  the  grapes.  Pauline  and  Ada  had  similar  at- 
tacks about  the  same  time  but  not  as  severe  as  Augusta's. 

Tuesday,  May  23rd,  at  7 :30  a.  m.  Lizzie  was  married  to 


100  MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.   MAVERICK 

Mr.  Clow,  Reverend  Mr.  McCulloch  officiating,  and  at 
eight  a.  m.  took  the  stage  for  Saluria. 

Friday,  May  26th,  Mr.  Maverick  returned.  Eleven 
miles  west  of  town,  he  met  an  acquaintance  who  told  him 
of  Agatha's  death !  He  went  to  the  grave  and  threw  him- 
self down  upon  it  ,and  remained  there  until  it  was  dark. 
No  one  but  God  could  tell  the  depth  of  his  anguish.  He 
was  crushed  and  broken  when  he  came  home.  He  said 
he  was  striving  "not  to  murmur  at  the  will  of  God."  He 
said  we  should  humble  ourselves  in  sack  cloth  and  ashes 
— and  he  never  removed  that  sack  cloth  in  spirit  whilst 
he  lived — was  ever  after  a  sad  changed  man. 

That  night  I  dreamed  so  distinctly  that  Agatha  ran 
through  our  room  and  out  at  the  door  again — the  dream 
seemed  so  real  that  I  jumped  up,  and  looked  for  her  with 
a  candle  in  my  hand,  in  spite  of  reason.  And  Mr.  Mav- 
erick said:  "She  has  wandered  off  in  the  dark  and  we 
will  never  on  earth  be  able  to  find  her."  Another  time  in 
his  deep  anguish  he  said :  "Cursed  land,  cursed  money,  I 
would  give  all.  all,  only  to  see  her  once  more." 

May  29th,  Mr.  Maverick  wrote  a  touching  letter  to  his 
father  telling  him  of  our  loss — one  of  his  sentences  was 
this :  "I  feel  as  if,  every  moment,  she  is  being  torn  out  of 
my  heart." 

My  poor  little  Willie  came  near  starving  to  death  when 
Agatha  was  sick  and  after  her  death — my  milk  almost 
dried  up.  I  got  Mrs.  Elliott's  cook,  Patience,  to  nurse  him 
two  weeks,  and  then  had  to  begin  feeding  him.  This  dis- 
agreed with  him,  and  all  summer  he  was  very  sick  and 
thin  and  fretful — once  he  lay  at  the  point  of  death  with 
the  dysentery,  and  the  doctor  told  Mrs.  Elliott  there  was 
no  hope.  Mrs.  Gorch  told  me  to  make  tea  of  pomegranate 
root,  and  give  a  teaspoonf ul  every  fifteen  minutes  until  the 
dysentery  was  checked.  I  did  this  and  I  believe  it  saved 
his  life.  As  he  grew  better  and  well,  it  was  wonderful 
how  he  liked  his  hoarhound  tea  and  drank  goats  milk. 

August  13th,  read  in  the  Pendleton  Messenger  of  July 
7th,  the  following  obituary: 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  101 

Departed  this  life,  Agatha  Maverick,  at  San 
Antonio,  Texas,  on  the  9th  of  May,  aged  seven 
years  and  twenty-seven  days,  eldest  daughter  of 
Samuel  A.  and  Mary  A.  Maverick.  "Oh,  Al- 
mighty and  all  just  God,  teach  us  how  it  is  that 
the  poor  little  boon  of  the  breath  of  life,  could 
not  be  spared  from  thy  great  storehouse  to  ani- 
mate a  little  dear  thing  which  thou  hast  made 
so  perfect." 

The  portion  in  quotation  marks  is  an  extract  from  Mr. 
Maverick's  letter. 

Poor  little  Augusta  missed  her  sister  "Tita"  so  much, 
and,  as  we  grieved  without  ceasing,  so  did  she.  Daily  she 
gathered  flowers  and  kept  them  in  water  until  the  after- 
noon, and  then  she  took  them  to  the  grave  for  "Tita" — 
Tita  who  had  ever  been  her  companion  and  her  ideal  of 
goodness. 

Augusta  was  a  child  of  great  promise,  gentle,  patient, 
thoughtful,  and  pious  beyond  her  years.  She  was  very 
fair  with  blue  eyes  and  light  hair,  and  she  had  a  high, 
broad  forehead  and  a  development  of  mind  beyond  her 
age.  She  was  very  fond  of  attending  Sunday  School,  and 
of  listening  to  singing  and  of  caring  for  the  baby — and 
was  always  obedient.  She  repeated  her  prayers  nightly 
and  was  ever  talking  of  God  and  his  angels  and  of  "our 
Tita  with  them." 

Ah,  pure  and  spotless  angel,  thyself. 
In  August  Colonel  Hays  was  ordered  to  open  a  shorter 
and  better  trading  route  through  the  wilds  to  Chihuahua, 
Mexico.  Colonel  Hays  asked  me  to  persaude  Mr.  Mav- 
erick to  go  with  the  expedition.  I  answered:  "Oh,  no, 
he  is  not  well  enough  for  such  a  hard  trip."  Then  Hays 
replied,  "Don't  you  see  Mr.  Maverick  is  dying  by  inches? 
Every  one  remarks  how  gray  he  has  grown,  how  bent  and 
feeble  he  looks,  and  this  will  be  the  very  thing  for  him — 
he  always  thrives  on  hardships,  and  his  mind  must  be  dis- 
tracted now  from  his  grief." 

I  recognized  the  truth  and  force  of  this  reasoning  and 


102  MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK 

i 

that  Hays  loved  him  dearly  and  I  set  to  work  to  persuade 
him  to  go.  My  husband  was  quite  reasonable,  and  quick- 
ly saw  that  the  trip  had  become  a  necessity  for  him. 

On  Sunday,  August  27th,  Mr.  Maverick  left  with 
Colonel  Hays,  fifty  men  and  fifteen  Delaware  Indian 
guides,  to  run  out  the  new  route  to  Chihuahua.  They  had  a 
very  severe  trip,  especially  going — they  got  lost  and  were 
nearly  starved  and  their  horses  suffered  more  severely 
than  the  men.  One  man  lost  his  reason  and  was  lost  and 
afterwards  saved  by  the  Indians  and  recovered.  While 
hopelessly  lost  ,they  met  some  Indians  from  Santa  Fe  who 
sold  them  some  bread  and  peloncillos  and  pointed  out  to 
them  the  road  to  San  Carlos  on  the  Rio  Grande;  where 
they  arrived  a  few  days  after. 

Their  return  trip  was  much  shorter.  A  good  road,  com- 
paratively, was  surveyed  of  about  seven  hundred  miles 
from  El  Paso  to  San  Antonio. 

They  were  greatly  troubled  on  their  return  by  the  In- 
dians hanging  about,  and  trying  to  stampede  their  horses 
and  they  had  one  fight  with  them. 

They  got  back  Sunday,  December  10th,  and  the  three 
and  a  half  months  of  hardship  had  done  wonders  for 
Mr.  Maverick,  just  as  Colonel  Hays  had  thought.  He  said 
that  Mr.  Maverick  had  been  the  "most  enduring  and  least 
complaining  man  of  the  party,"  had  encouraged  others, 
walked  much  to  save  his  horse — had  cheerfully  eaten 
roots,  berries,  mule-meat  and  polecats,  and  had  chewed 
leather  and  the  tops  of  his  boots,  to  keep  his  mouth  moist 
when  no  water  could  be  found.  Besides  coming  back  in 
good  health  Mr.  Maverick  was  more  cheerful  and  hope- 
ful. 

A  ball  was  given  to  Hays  and  his  company,  and  another 
to  the  officers  of  the  United  States  Army  stationed  here, 
but  we  did  not  go. 

Christmas  was  beautiful — glad  day  of  redemption  to 
the  world. 

1849. 

Cholera.     New  Years  Day  was  bright  and  beautiful, 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  103 

but  we  heard  the  cholera  had  appeared  in  New  Orleans. 
We  also  heard  at  the  same  time  that  some  bad  mess  pork 
had  caused  the  death  of  a  hundred  soldiers  recently 
landed  at  Lavaca,  and  destined  for  this  place — frightful ! 
Some  think  it  cholera. 

And  here  in  San  Antonio  violent  influenza  with  sore 
throat  and  measles  and  scarletina  were  prevailing.  Pal- 
las, Aunt  Ann's  house  boy,  died — he  told  his  mother: 
"God  came  to  me  in  a  dream,  and  took  me  to  heaven," 
and  he  asked  her  to  pray  with  him  and  then  he  died. 

February  28th,  Major  Chevalier  took  small  pox  at  Aunt 
Ann's,  and  was  sent  to  an  isolated  room  in  the  yard  and 
nursed  there.  Russell  Howard,  one  of  the  volunteer 
nurses,  took  the  disease  from  him. 

March  7th,  sister  Lizzie  came,  spent  five  days  with  me 
and  went  back  to  Mr.  Clow  in  Lavaca.  March  29th,  Mrs. 
Elliott,  Mrs.  Lockwood  and  I  sat  up  all  night  with  Mrs. 
Richardson,  mother  of  Mrs.  Judge  Paschal,  and  closed  her 
eyes  in  death.  Heard  of  the  death  of  George  Peacock 
and  four  others  of  cholera  in  Lavaca.  We  talked  of  go- 
ing into  the  country  and  camping  out,  before  the  cholera 
reached  San  Antonio — this  we  made  up  our  minds  to  do, 
but  the  weather  was  very  bad,  wind  and  rain  and  fog, 
continually,  and  we  waited  for  better  weather — alas!  too 
long. 

Monday  the  second  of  April,  cholera  appeared  in  San 
Antonio.  For  two  weeks  it  was  confined  to  Mexicans  in 
low,  damp  places,  and  Dr.  Cupples  thought  it  was  easily 
managed  and  would  not  become  epidemic,  but  suddenly, 
in  gloom  overhead  and  in  our  hearts  it  appeared  every- 
where in  the  most  violent  form  and  would  not  yield  to 
treatment.  April  22nd,  twenty-one  died  of  cholera. 
"""Death  of  Augusta.  On  Monday  23rd,  O,  world  of 
grief!  my  darling  Augusta  complained  of  colic  in  the 
evening — it  was  damp  and  cold.  We  gave  her  the  reme- 
dies which  were  ready  in  every  house  and  she  felt  pretty 
well  and  went  to  sleep  a  perfect  picture  of  rosy  health  and 


104  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.   MAVERICK 

beauty.  About  midnight  she  awoke  vomiting  and  purg- 
ing violently.  Dr.  Sturgis  was  down  with  the  cholera  and 
we  called  in  two  other  physicians,  but  all  that  could  be 
done  gave  no  relief. 

God  willed  to  take  our  darling.  In  four  hours,  her  case 
was  pronounced  hopeless  and  she  looked  thin  and  emaci- 
ated, purple  and  sunken,  but  conscious  to  the  last,  and 
suffering  fearfully.  We  humbly  gave  her  up,  beseeching 
God  to  stay  the  hand  of  the  pestilence,  for  Lewis  and 
George  were  both  attacked  at  daylight.  At  eight  a.  m., 
Augusta  felt  no  more  pain  and  tried  to  get  out  of  bed; 
at  nine  o'clock,  one  hour  afterwards,  she  breathed  her 
last.  She  was  six  years  and  twenty-five  days  old.  They 
buried  her  the  next  day  by  the  side  of  Tita — I  could  not 
go. 

Two  nights  before  her  attack,  Augusta  had  a  lovely 
dream,  which  made  me  tremble  when  she  related  it  to 
me  on  Saturday  morning,  she  smiling  and  happy  the 
while  over  its  loveliness.  In  her  dream  she  was  clothed 
in  a  new  dress,  all  white  and  shining  and  flowing  down 
below  her  feet.  She  got  into  a  carriage  and  with  a  large 
procession  went  "way  off  to  a  big  church"  resounding 
with  sweet  music,  and  filled  with  people  dressed  in  white. 
It  was  prophesy  of  her  shroud  and  burial  and  resurrection. 

God  I  thank  Thee  that  we  could  yield  her  up  unsullied 
by  earth — her  memory  a  white  and  shining  light. 

Just  before  she  died,  knowing  she  had  only  a  few  mo- 
ments to  live,  I  took  her  in  my  arms  and  held  her  in  my 
lap  before  the  fire,  and  said  to  her :  "Gussie,  do  you  know 
our  Father  in  Heaven?"  "Oh,  yes,  mamma,"  she  an- 
swered earnestly.  She  said-'  "I  hear  then  singing,  mam- 
ma, put  my  bonnet  on  and  let  me  go  to  church."  I  put 
the  little  fresh  muslin  bonnet  on  her  head.  She  loved  the 
bonnet  and  was  content — she  looked  up,  listened  intently, 
and  said:  "Don't  you  hear  them,  mamma?" 

"Gussie,  do  you  want  to  see  God?" 

"Yes,  Mama." 

"Do  you  want  to  see  Tita?" 


MEMOIRS  OP  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  105 

"Yes,  mama."  And  these  were  her  last  words. 
Thou  wert  purity  itself  my  gentle  child. 

Death  had  no  terrors  for  thee, 

The  gates  of  Heaven  were  open  for  thee : 

Whilst  yet  in  the  flesh,  thou  didst  behold  thy  Father's 

face  in  Heaven. 

On  the  day  of  Augusta's  death,  Lewis  and  George  both 
had  the  cholera.  The  doctors  were  prompt  and  their 
cases  yielded  to  treatment,  although  George  was  very 
low  for  awhile.  I  also  was  threatened  and  had  to  go  to 
bed  by  George's  side  and  take  my  medicine  like  the 
others.  On  that  day,  many  children  died,  two  of  whom 
were  friends  and  playmates  of  Augusta.  Of  our  servants, 
Granville,  Emmeiine  and  Ann  had  the  cholera,  and  in  fact 
every  soul  of  the  household  except  Sara  and  Betsy  was 
more  or  less  affected.  Idle  would  be  the  task  of  portray- 
ing the  gloom  of  our  household,  or  the  terror  which  seized 
upon  the  community.  Fear  and  dread  were  in  every  house 
—an  oppressive  weight  in  the  atmosphere.  Into  every 
house  came  the  pestilence,  in  most  houses  was  death,  and 
in  some  families  one-half  died!  All  had  symptoms  and 
the  weather  continued  close  and  damp  and  dismal.  Men 
of  strong  nerve  and  undoubted  courage  shrank  in  fear — 
many  drank  hard  and  died  drunk — some  dropped  and 
died  in  the  streets — one  poor  fellow  cut  his  throat  when 
attacked.  Never  can  those  who  were  here  in  that  terrible 
visitation  forget  its  gloom  and  horror.  The  cholera  last- 
ed six  weeks  ,and  the  priests  thought  that  over  six  hun- 
dred people  died.  One  third  of  the  population  fled  to 
the  ranches  and  into  the  country  and  they  generally  got 
above  this  heavy  atmosphere  and  escaped. 

July  10th,  Mr.  Maverick  sent  me  with  the  four  boys  and 
Betsy  to  Sutherland  Springs  to  rest  and  recuperate.  We 
stopped  first  at  Dr.  Sutherlands,  and  Mrs.  Frank  Pashal 
with  her  three  children  stopped  at  Mrs.  Johnson's.  Mrs. 
Sutherland  was  very  kind  to  us,  but  as  all  the  water 
there  was  mineral,  we  moved  to  Mrs.  Johnson's  and  drank 
Chalybeate  water.  Mrs.  Johnson's  little  daughter  died 


106  MEMOIRS  PF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK 

of  convulsions  while  we  were  there.  We  felt  no  improve- 
ment by  our  visit  to  the  springs.  A  number  of  strangers 
were  there  from  the  low  country,  some  housed  and  some 
camping,  and  there  was  much  sickness — all  the  log  cabins 
were  full  of  the  sick.  On  the  17th,  Mrs.  Paschal  took  the 
stage  for  San  Antonio,  and  on  the  19th,  I  did  the  same. 


COMMERCE   STREET  IN  THE    GO'S,    LOOKING   EAST 


MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEEICK  107 


Chapter  XV. 
OUR  NEW  HOME  ON  ALAMO  PLAZA. 

I  felt  that  I  could  not  live  any  longer  at  the  old 
place,  and  Mr.  Maverick,  too,  did  not  want  to  live 
there.  We  concluded  that  the  high  ground  on  the 
Alamo  Plaza  would  be  a  more  healthful  location.  When 
Mr.  Maverick  sent  us  to  the  springs,  he  remained  in  San 
Antonio  to  move  our  household  goods  from  the  old  home 
to  an  old  Mexican  house  he  had  bought  on  the  Alamo 
Plaza,  and  also  to  make  arrangements  for  building  us  a 
new  two-story  house. 

When  we  returned  to  San  Antonio,  on  July  19th,  1849, 
we  settled  down  in  the  old  house  I  have  mentioned,  and 
did  the  best  we  could.  This  house  was  situated  on  the  lot 
now  formed  by  the  west  line  of  Alamo  Plaza  and  the 
south  line  of  Houston  Street.  At  that  time,  and  for  some 
years  thereafter  Houston  (Paseo)  Street  was  not  in  ex- 
istence. 

Heavenly  Comfort.  On  September  1st,  I  had  a  sweet, 
consoling  dream.  Agatha  and  Augusta  came  from  the 
Spirit-Land  to  comfort  me.  I  took  Augusta  in  my  arms> 
and  clothed  her  in  white  robes.  Then  I  asked  to  see 
Agatha,  and  she  stood  in  the  window,  a  little  taller  than 
in  life — I  clasped  her  in  my  arms.  They  told  me  they  were 
very  happy,  and  said  we  should  be  together  in  Heaven. 

Singular  how  real  it  was,  and  how  happy  and  thankful 
it  made  me. 

September  30th,  I  heard  an  excellent  sermon  by  Mr. 
Fish,  the  Army  Chaplain,  on  the  parent's  duty  of  training 
their  children  in  the  way  they  should  go — with  the  bless- 
ed promise,  "and  when  they  are  old  they  will  not  depart 


108  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

from  it."  October  21st,  Reverend  Ambrose  Smith  preach- 
ed his  farewell  sermon — I  Thes.  XL,  11.  November  4th, 
Reverend  Mr.  Fish  preached  a  splendid  sermon — II  Cor. 
IV,  7. 

September  5th,  Mr.  Maverick's  nephew,  Augustus  W. 
Wayman,  died  of  cholera  at  West  Point — his  four  years' 
cadetship  nearly  completed. 

November  5th,  Mrs.  Elliott,  Susan  Hays  and  I  had  our 
daguerrotypes  taken  at  Whitfield's  gallery — Mrs.  Hays 
is  going  to  California  to  join  her  husband.  Susan  and  I 
had  joined  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  '48,  during 
our  husband's  absence  on  the  expedition  to  open  a  better 
route  to  Chihuahua.  She  preferred  that  church,  but  I 
only  joined  till  my  own,  theProtestant  Episcopal,  should 
be  established  here,  and  we  had  been  great  friends,  and 
"sisters"  ever  since,  though  she  was  so  much  younger.  On 
Christmas  Day,  Mr.  Young,  the  local  Methodist  minister 
for  two  years  past,  dined  with  us  and  said  goodbye.  He 
was  going  home  to  Mississippi — an  earnest  and  zealous 
Christian  and  much  beloved  here. 

1850. 

Wednesday,  February  6th,  at  ten  p.  m.,  was  born  our 
seventh  child,  John  Hays.  John  was  an  old  name  in  the 
Maverick  family — Hays  was  in  honor  of  our  friend  the 
Colonel.  The  baby  and  Willie  were  baptized  on  April 
4th,  by  Bishop  G.  W.  Freeman,  of  Louisiana.  Sam,  Lewis, 
Agatha,  Augusta  and  George  had  been  baptized  at  De- 
crows  Point  by  the  Reverend  Caleb  Ives  of  Matagorda. 
Johnnie  looked  so  delicate  that  scarcely  any  one  thought 
he  could  live.  But  I  hoped  on,  and  devoted  my  time  day 
and  night  to  him,  and  he  was  seldom  out  of  my  arms. 

July  19th,  he  had  a  sudden  attack  of  cholera  infan- 
tum,  and  died  before  night — "Thy  will  be  done."  .  .  . 

In  July,  Mr.  Schmidt  commenced  building  our  new 
house  of  stone  and  built  very  fast. 

September  10th,  Bombre  began  the  carpenter  work. 

September  15th.     Susan  Hays  spent  a  day  and  night 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  109 

with  me.  She  was  as  lovely  and  lovable  as  ever.  She 
was  to  start  in  two  weeks  to  join  her  hero-husband  in 
California. 

25th,  Mary  Bradley  returned  with  Major  Tom  Howard 
and  wife  and  baby  Fannie. 

29th,  we  and  all  old  San  Antonios  bid  Mrs.  Hays  good- 
bye— Bob  Hays  and  Mr.  Randall  go  with  her. 

Saturday  October  5th.  Lewis  was  gathering  pecans, 
when  a  rotten  limb  broke  with  his  weight  and  he  fell  to 
the  ground  breaking  both  bones  in  his  right  arm,  just 
above  the  wrist.  Although  it  was  a  mile  below  town,  he 
walked  home — accompanied  by  Joe,  Mrs.  Elliott's  black 
boy.  Dr.Dignowity  set  his  arm.  Lewis  suffered  much 
pain  and  I  sat  by  him  all  night  pouring  cold  water  over 
his  arm.  The  next  day,  Sunday,  Dr.  Dignowity  put  his 
arm  in  a  tin  sheath  and  he  slept  little — Monday  night  no 
sleep — Tuesday  night  the  same.  Wednesday  he  was  bet- 
ter, slept  some  and  enjoyed  seeing  the  children  at  their 
play.  Thursday  he  walked  some  with  his  arm  in  a  sling. 
Friday  the  pain  returned  and  sleeplessness — feverish  and 
groaning — again  I  poured  cold  water  all  night.  Monday 
14th;  the  bandages  and  tin  sheath  were  taken  off,  and 
we  found  an  abcess  below  the  elbow.  I  was  frightened ; 
it  looked  like  gangrene.  But  the  doctor  said  it  was  all 
right,  applied  a  poultice  with  "number  six"  and  gave  a 
"course."  The  swelling  subsided  and  he  slowly  got  over 
his  suffering — but  not  before  the  30th  of  November  did 
he  have  any  use  of  his  arm — and  it  is  not  straight. 

December  1st,  1850.  We  moved  into  our  new  house 
and  found  it  very  nice,  after  the  old  Mexican  quarters  we 
had  occupied  over  a  year.  The  new  house,  considerably 
enlarged,  is  standing  today,  and  is  now  known  as  the 
Maverick  Homestead.* 

1851. 

Mr.  Maverick  took  Lewis  to  the  Army  Surgeon,  Dr. 
Wright,  to  have  his  arm  straightened,  but  it  was  too  late. 


•Where  Gibbs  Building  now  stands,  Avenue  D  and  Houston  Streets. 


110  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.   MAVERICK 

March  16th.  I  am  thirty-three  years  old  today,  and  am 
trying  to  keep  Lent.  Sunday  April  13th,  after  evening 
service,  I  was  confirmed  by  Bishop  Freeman  of  Louisiana. 

A  New  Daughter.  On  Tuesday,  June  17th,  1851,  at 
eight  a.  m.  was  born  our  third  daughter,  Mary  Brown. 
How  glad  and  thankful  were  Mr.  Maverick  and  I  to  have 
a  daughter.  She  was  named  for  Father  Maverick's  "bless- 
ed grandmother  "Mary  Brown."* 

Soon  after  Mary's  birth,  I  wasted  until  I  fainted  twice 
and  grew  quite  helpless  and  almost  speechless.  This  was 
caused  by  the  mid-wife  Mrs.  D.,  wilfully  giving  me  lobelia 
— telling  me  it  was  raspberry  tea.  I  felt  my  hold  on  life 
very  slight,  but  in  my  fainting  had  felt  an  indescribable 
peace.  For  two  weeks  I  could  scarcely  move  without 
fainting,  but  after  that  I  grew  strong  very  fast.  My  pre- 
cious baby  grew  thin  the  while,  and  Mrs.  Beck,  who  had  a 
baby  born  on  the  same  day  with  mine,  nursed  Mary  twice 
a  day.  Mary  was  sent  to  her  each  morning  and  afternoon 
for  five  or  six  weeks.  When  Mary  was  seven  weeks  old, 
we  had  to  commence  feeding  her,  and  I  began  drinking 
ale  and  porter  myself  to  see  whether  I  could  provide  the 
proper  nourishment — and  I  recovered  my  strength  rapid- 
ly. Baby  however,  was  thin  and  fretful. 

Mr.  Maverick  had  been  elected  to  the  Legislature,  and 
he  wished  to  visit  his  father  who  had  been  stricken  with 
paralysis,  but  he  did  not  see  how  he  could  leave  us. 

August  23rd.  We  call  in  the  services  of  a  goat — feed 
it  well — and  milk  it  four  or  five  times  a  day  for  baby,  and 
she  improves  some. 

Bone  Soup  Bath.  August  28th,  Mrs.  Salsmon,  an  ex- 
perienced German  nurse,  came  to  see  baby,  and  persuad- 
ed me  to  bathe  her  daily  in  bone  soup.  The  bone  soup 


*  Samuel  Maverick  (1772-1852)  always  spoke  of  this  grandmother,  Mary  Tur- 
pin  Brown  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  as  his  "blessed  grandmother  Mary  Brown"  and 
at  mention  of  her  name  bared  his  head;  this  gratitude  was  well  deserved  for 
during  Revolutionary  days  when  his  father  was  a  prisoner  on  the  Jersey  Prison 
ghip  and  their  home  destroyed  by  the  British,  his  mother  took  the  family  to  this 
same  grandmother  who  cared  for  them  tenderly  until  it  was  possible  for  their 
return  to  Charleston.  She  was  a  Quaker,  as  were  her  people. 


MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  111 

is  made  by  boiling  beef  bones  four  hours,  and  then  cool- 
ing to  a  temperature  of  about  one  hundred,  and  the  bath 
is  ready.  Daily  I  put  her  into  the  bath,  and  kept  her  there 
some  time,  and  then,  while  wet  from  the  bath,  rolled  her 
in  a  blanket  and  put  her  to  sleep.  And  when  she  awaked, 
I  rubbed  her  well  and  dressed  her.  At  first  the  bath 
did  not  seem  to  do  any  good.  But  Mr.  Maverick  asked 
me  to  try  it  one  month,  and  then  we  saw  she  had  steadily 
improved.  The  treatment  was  kept  up  for  about  six 
months. 

Mr.  Maverick  bought  a  horse  and  buggy  and  drove  us 
out  into  the  country  every  evening. 

September  28th,  baby  is  rosy  and  playful  and  good. 
November  2nd,  Mr.  Maverick  weighed  baby  before  leav- 
ing on  the  morrow  for  Austin — she  weighed  ten  and  half 
pounds,  and  we  were  happy  over  it.  She  was  growing 
good  sized  like  any  other  baby,  and  I  began  to  feed  her 
rice  and  hominy  water  in  her  milk — also  soup.  Mr.  Mav- 
erick writes  often  and  is  always  solicitous  about  his  daugh- 
ter. 

The  Houstons  Come.  November  31st,  Dr.  Houston  and 
Routez  Houston,  his  wife,  with  their  three  children,  Han- 
nah Jane,  Mary  Elizabeth  and  Augustus  W.,  and  with 
wagons  and  negroes,  arrive  from  North  Alabama  to  settle 
in  Texas — and  they  stay  with  us  until  after  the  holidays. 
Ross  Houston  with  his  household  camped  on  the  Cibolo. 

December  30th,  Mr.  Maverick  came  over  from  Austin 
to  spend  Christmas  with  us,  and  we  all  enjoyed  the  holi- 
days and  the  children  Santa  Claus'  visit. 

1852. 

January  3d,  1852,  Dr.  Houston  took  his  family  to  the 
new  house  on  the  Cibolo  about  twenty-seven  miles  E.  S. 
E.  from  San  Antonio.  Ross  Houston  built  his  house  one 
mile  nearer  San  Antonio. 

January  5th,  Maley  caught  cold  and  became  quite  sick 
and  was  not  well  again  until  the  26th,  when  she  recover- 
ed her  health  and  became  playful  and  fat,  and  weighed 


112  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

thirteen  and  a  half  pounds.  How  miserable  and  frighten- 
ed I  was  when  she  was  ill.  During  January,  we  stopped 
using  the  bone  soup  bath. 

February  15th.  Baby  and  I  were  out  riding  and  Lewis 
was  driving  the  mare,  when  some  one  discharged  a  gun 
near  us  which  frightened  the  mare  and  she  ran  away 
kicking  and  charging  wildly.  We,  Lewis  and  I,  together, 
turned  her  head  against  a  fence,  when  she  reared  and  fell 
back  on  the  buggy  and  broke  a  shaft.  I  jumped  out  with 
baby  and  the  men  who  had  been  shooting  ran  to  our  as- 
sistance. Mr.  Teagle  helped  us  to  repair  the  shaft  and 
drove  us  home. 

February  16th,  Maley  cut  her  first  tooth  and  was  not 
sick.  17th,  weighed  fourteen  and  a  half  pounds.  20th, 
had  another  tooth.  22nd,  Mr.  Maverick  got  home.  March 
17th,  Maley  weighed  fifteen  pounds.  April  17th,  six- 
teen pounds.  May  17th,  seventeen  pounds. 

On  April  20th,  Maley  not  very  well.  22nd,  Mary  Brown 
was  baptized  by  Bishop  G.  W.  Freeman.  May  1st,  we  all 
attended  a  picnic  at  San  Pedro  Springs.  Willie  narrow- 
ly escaped  being  run  over  by  Judge  Paschal's  coach. 

Father  Maverick's  Death.  May  7th,  received  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Maverick's  sister,  Lydia  A.  Van  Wyck,  saying 
father  was  better  and  could  whisper.  15th,  another  let- 
ter said  he  was  very  sick.  22nd,  Mr.  Maverick  received  a 
letter  from  a  cousin,  Robert  Maxwell,  giving  the  sad  tid- 
ings of  father  Maverick's  death — he  died  April  28th, 
1852.  The  poor  old  man  suffered  over  two  years  before 
he  died.  His  son  never  ceased  to  regret  that  he  did  not  go 
on  to  see  him,  ere  he  died — but  he  seemed  to  be  tied  here 
all  the  while,  still  hoping  to  start  soon,  and  yet  finding 
something  to  detain  him. 

June  17th,  Mary,  one  year  old,  weighs  seventeen  and 
a  half  pounds.  Mrs.  Samuel  made  her  a  pretty  dotted 
swiss  dress.  Mary  can  stand  alone — is  happy  and  play- 
ful. Sam  and  Lewis  went  down  to  Cibolo  to  visit  the 
Houstons. 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  113 

July  5th,  Routez  came  up  to  see  us. 

July  13th,  my  sister  with  her  two  girls,  Kate  and  Alice, 
and  nurse,  came  up  from  the  coast  to  pay  us  a  good  long 
visit. 

October  6th,  Mr.  Clow  came  up,  spent  a  week  with  us 
and  took  his  family  home.  Lizzie  sent  me  an  old  china 
bowl,  an  heirloom  in  our  family,  which  has  descended 
through  five  generations  that  we  know  of,  each  time  to 
the  youngest  daughter  .  Mrs.  Agatha  Strother  owned  it, 
and  it  is  said  in  our  family  tradition  she  inherited  it.  From 
Agatha  Strother  it  descended  to  Mrs.  A.  Madison — from 
her  to  Mrs.  Lucy  Lewis — from  her  to  Mrs.  Agatha  L. 
Adams — from  her  to  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Clow — from  her  to 
Ada  Clow,  her  youngest  daughter.  (Lizzie  wanted  me 
to  keep  it  in  my  family,  but  in  1879  I  sent  it  to  Ada  Clow 
by  my  son  Willie  H.  Maverick.) 

1853. 

January  4th,  1853,  Mr.  Maverick  being  away  at  the 
Legislature  in  Austin,  I  took  all  the  children  and  left  on 
the  stage  at  ten  p.  m.  for  Dr.  Houston's.  There  we  had  a 
delightful  visit.  Heard  of  Fleming  Bradley's  death,  and 
his  mother's  great  grief  and  distress.  February  8th,  we 
returned  from  the  Cibolo,  and  found  the  heavy  snow  of 
the  6th,  still  unmelted.  The  excessive  cold  and  the  snow 
together  had  cracked  our  cement  roof  and  it  was  leak- 
ing badly.  February  13th,  thermometer  down  to  twelve 
degrees  above  zero  at  three  a.  m.  Mr.  Maverick  got  home 
on  the  stage  quite  ill  with  bilious  colic.  Althoug  he  had 
been  quite  ill  at  Austin  for  two  weeks,  he  continued,  with- 
out complaining,  to  attend  to  his  legislative  duties.  He 
now  submitted  to  a  "botanic  course"  and  kept  in  bed  for 
several  days — wonderful  for  him. 

March  9th,  Mr.  Maverick  went  with  John  McDonald 
surveying  to  Fort  Mason  and  the  Llano,  and  to  Fort  Chad- 
bourne  and  the  Red  Fork  of  the  Colorado. 

March  18th.  X.  B.  Saunders  held  an  examination  at 
his  school  and  our  boys  received  prizes.  We  gave  Mr. 


Ill  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.   MAVERICK 

Saunders  his  board  to  help  him  and  he  to  help  our  boys — 
fair  exchange.  Judge  Saunders  is  now  residing  at  Bel- 
ton,  Texas.  George  tells  me  that  Mr.  Saunders  used  to 
spank  him  daily,  never  omitting  a  school  day,  but  that  he 
did  not  "lay  it  on  hard." 

April  25th,  Mr.  Maverick  returned  in  good  health. 

May  1st,  Sam  and  Lewis  attend  dancing  school. 

May  17th,  Colonel  Dancy  took  dinner  with  us,  and  in 
the  evening  we  all  had  a  gay  time  trying  "table  rapping/7 
Colonel  Dancy  was  a  spiritual  medium — and  he  told  me 
I  was  a  medium  also. 

May  18th,  George  had  the  mumps.  June  5th,  Mary 
had  mumps  but  she  was  not  sick,  and  she  laughed  at 
"mamma's  baby"  in  the  glass. 

June  21st,  Willie  makes  his  first  trip  to  school — with 
George. 

June  28th,  sat  up  all  night  with  Mrs.  Cox  who  is  dying. 
She  is  mother  of  Mrs.  Ogden. 

In  July,  a  committee  of  six  ladies  were  chosen  to  get  up 
a  church  supper,  in  order  to  raise  funds  to  complete  the 
Methodist  Church  on  Soledad  Street. 

On  July  28th,  our  supper  came  off — we  worked  very 
hard,  and  the  supper  was  renewed  the  second  night.  The 
sum  of  $617.00  was  netted,  and  turned  over  to  the  build- 
ing committee  of  which  Elder  Whipple  was  president, 
and  Miss  Harriett  Richardson  treasurer. 

August  21,  we  heard  that  yellow  fever  was  very  bad  in 
New  Orleans. 

November  4th,  Mr.  Maverick  attended  the  Legislature 
at  Austin.  Sam  and  Lewis  came  back  from  a  long  visit 
to  the  Cibolo — they  had  beaten  all  hands  picking  cot- 
ton. General  Rusk,  United  States  Senator  from  Texas, 
visited  San  Antonio,  in  November.  He  dined  with  me— 
we  went  to  the  Theatre  at  the  Casino,  then  on  south  side 
of  Dolorosa  Street,  near  the  present  location  of  Hord's 
Hotel,  and  saw  the  laughter-provoking  play  of  "Bombas- 
tes  Furioso." 

December  22nd.  An  Episcopal   supper  was  given  in 


MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  115 

the  old  Alamo  Chuch — the  weather  was  bad,  and  the  ven- 
ture brought  us  no  return. 

1854. 

January  1854.  Sam,  Lewis  and  I  joined  Professor  Ry- 
an's class  in  Psychology.  March  15th,  Mary  Elliott  mar- 
ried Russell  Howard.  I  received  a  letter  from  brother 
Andrew,  written  at  Huepac,  Sonora,  Mexico. 

Conquista  Ranch  Established.  On  March  29th,  Mr. 
Maverick  with  Sam  and  Lewis,  and  Granville  and  four 
Mexicans  set  off  for  our  old  Tiltona  Rancho  on  the  Mata- 
gorda  Peninsula,  with  the  purpose  of  bringing  Jinny 
and  her  children  and  the  stock  cattle  to  a  tract  of  land  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  San  Antonio  River,  about  forty-five 
miles  below  San  Antonio.  The  new  location  after- 
wards called  by  us  the  Conquista  Ranch,  because  the 
noted  Conquista  ford  of  the  river  was  on  this  tract.  The 
tract  extended  along  the  river  from  a  point  half  a  mile 
above  the  Conquista  ford  to  a  point  below  the  mouth  of 
Marcellino  Creek.  They  were  gone  two  months,  had  a 
rough,  hard  time  of  it  and  all  came  back  well  and  hearty 
on  May  24th. 

On  Sunday,  May  7th,  1854,  was  born  our  ninth  child, 
Albert.  I  was  very  weak  and  did  not  have  milk  enough 
for  him.  In  August  Mr.  Maverick  established  Conquista 
Ranch  in  due  form — built  a  house,  fences  and  pens  and 
left  Jack  in  charge  of  the  place.  On  August  14th,  Sam 
and  Lewis  with  Mr.  Maverick  went  down  to  the  ranch. 
Joey  Thompson  and  Lizzie  Houston  spent  December  with 
us  and  we  enjoyed  the  time  very  much. 

1855. 

March  1855,  Joey  Thompson  and  Lizzie  Houston  came 
to  pay  us  a  long  visit.  In  April,  I  gave  them  a  party  which 
the  girls  enjoyed  very  much.  We  had  a  large  company 
and  the  girls  received  great  attention.  In  the  latter  part 
of  August,  our  whole  family  went  down  to  visit  the  Hous- 
tons  and  to  partake  of  a  birthday  dinner  given  to  Joey 
Thompson.  While  at  the  Houstons,  we  had  a  great  In- 


116  MEMOIRS  .OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

dian  scare.  A  party  of  some  twenty-five  or  thirty  Coman- 
ches  made  a  raid  down  the  Cibolo,  crossed  the  San  An- 
tonio River  at  the  Conquista  ford,  and  by  rapid  marches 
escaped  to  the  mountains  with  impunity.  They  killed  two 
persons,  stole  some  horses  and  killed  others.  My  boys, 
Sam  and  Lewis,  joined  the  party  which  went  in  pursuit  of 
the  Indians,  and  I  became  wretched  and  anxious  about 
them. 

Sebastopol.  Wild  rumors  came  soon  after  the  boys  had 
gone,  to  the  effect  that  several  hundred  warriors  had 
been  seen  not  many  mles  from  Dr.  Hodston's  house.  This 
was  a  new  and  startling  turn.  Dr.  Houston's  house  was 
a  large  and  substantial  stone  building  and  the  people  for 
miles  around  crowded  there.  We  fortified  the  house  and 
most  of  us  kept  awake  the  whole  night.  We  dubbed  the 
place,  in  its  fortified  condition,  "Sebastopol,"  which  in- 
dicated our  intention  to  defend  ourselves  to  the  last.  But 
it  all  proved  a  mere  scare  of  some  easily  frightened  per- 
son. 

While  on  this  visit  to  the  Houstons,  we  went  up  to  a 
grand  ball  at  Seguin,  and  to  dinner  and  speeches  the  next 
day. 

In  December,  Mr.  Maverick  was  attending  the  Senate  in 
Austin,  when  we  concluded  to  pay  him  a  visit.  On  Decem- 
ber 20th,  I  with  George,  Willie,  Mary  and  Albert  and 
nurse  Betsy,  accompanied  by  Joey  Houston,  went  over  to 
Austin  to  visit  Mr.  Maverick,  and  attend  the  inaugural 
of  Governor  Pease.  We  boarded  at  Mrs.  Newell's  and 
had  a  nice  visit  of  two  or  three  weeks.  Joey  made  a  de- 
cided "impression."  She  played  and  sang  well,  and  was 
very  attractive  and  lively  and  she  had  several  offers  of 
marriage  to  consider  and  decline  before  we  left  Austin. 

1856. 

We  returned  from  Austin  about  January  10th,  1856, 
and  on  the  12th,  we  went  with  Joey  to  Dr.  Houston's. 
Sam  Thompson,  her  brother,  fifteen  years  old  then,  was 
there.  He,  on  February  20th,  1856,  took  her  back  home 


MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  117 

to  North  Alabama.  Colonel  and  Susan  Hays  and  their 
two  interesting  children,  Jack  and  Dickey,  visited  San 
Antonio  and  the  Calverts  at  Seguin. 

February  14th,  Mr.  Maverick  returned  from  Austin. 
While  in  Austin,  to  please  Jack,  he  bought  Rosetta,  Jack's 
wife,  and  her  three  children  and  brought  them  along  with 
him  in  the  stage. 

April  19th,  Mr.  Maverick  went  with  J.  McDonald  and 
eleven  others  surveying  on  the  San  Saba  and  up  on  the 
Red  Fork  of  the  Colorado,  to  be  gone  two  months.  Mr. 
Maverick  returned  June  llth.  William  McDonald  ac- 
cidentally shot  himself  in  camp. 

Separation.  On  June  22nd,  1856,  Lewis,  then  seven- 
teen years  of  age,  left  us  to  go  to  college  in  Burlington, 
Vermont.  I  felt  as  if  some  dear  one  had  died,  and  I 
missed  my  dear  Lewis  dreadfhlly. 

July  3d,  George  was  bit  on  the  left  foot  by  a  moccasin 
snake,  whilst  bathing  above  town  at  the  island,  now  the 
Grand  Avenue  crossing.  Sam  cut  the  wound  and  sucked 
the  poison  from  it.  George  ran  home  and  we  had  a  great 
fright.  Dr.  Herff*  gave  him  whisky,  and  he  got  over  it 
in  a  few  weeks. 

In  September,  Mr.  Maverick  sold  to  Mr.  A.  Toutant 
Beaureguard  all  his  cattle,  estimated  at  four  hundred 
head.  They  were  at  Conquista  ranch  and  scattered  over 
the  country  around  there. 

September  24th,  1856,  Mr.  Maverick  set  off  with  Sam; 
Mr.  Maverick  on  business  for  the  S.  A.  &  M.  A.  Railway 
Company,  and  Sam  for  college.  It  was  hard  to  let  Sam  go 
— he  and  Lewis  so  far  away.  On  the  day  they  left,  Willie 
ran  a  nail  into  his  heel  and  I  was  alarmed,  but  Willie  got 
through  safely.  Mr.  Maverick  and  Sam  visited  Lewis  in 
Vermont,  and  Lewis  ran  down  with  them  to  New  York 
City. 

On  November  8th,  Sam  sailed  for  Europe  to  attend  the 
University  of  Edinboro  in  Scotland — across  the  ocean ! 


*Dr.  Ferdinand  Herff,  skilled  physician,  came  to  San  Antonio  from  Germany 
in  1847,  member  of  an  independent  political  society  consisting  of  young  Germans 
of  the  upper  class. 


118  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.   MAVERICK 

1857—1859. 

Birth  and  Death  of  Our  Tenth  Child.  On  October 
17th,  1857,  our  fourth  daughter  and  tenth  and  last  child, 
Elizabeth,  was  born,  a  very  delicate  baby. 

We  did  everything  we  could  to  save  her  life,  but  all 
in  vain.  She  died  March  28th,  1859,  aged  one  year,  five 
months,  and  eleven  days. 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  119 


Chapter  XVI. 
CONCLUSION. 

task  I  set  out  to  perform  is  completed.  With 
the  death  of  my  last  child,  I  closed  the  book  of 
the  past — the  remoter  past — and  the  events 
which  have  happened  since  1859,  seem  too  modern  to  be 
incorporated  into  this  book.  But  in  order  to  connect  the 
remoter  past  with  the  actual  present  I  feel  that  I  ought 
to  take  a  rapid  glance  over  the  period  of  twenty-two 
years  which  has  intervened. 

The  Civil  War  soon  came  on  and  Mr.  Maverick  and  my 
sons  did  not  shrink  from  what  they  conceived  to  be  their 
duty.  Mr.  Maverick  had  always  been  a  Union  man  in 
sentiment,  he  loved  the  Union  of  the  states,  and  although 
he  may  have  believed  (before  the  question  was  settled) 
that  we  had  the  abstract  right  to  withdraw  from  the 
Union,  he  thought  the  Union  was  sacred,  and  that  the  idea 
of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  ought  not  to  be  harbored  for 
a  moment.  Having  such  ideas  and  convictions,  he  found 
life  to  be  uncongenial  and  unpromising  for  him  in  South 
Carolina,  where  the  doctrines  of  nullification  and  ultimate 
secession  were  agressively  espoused  by  an  overwhelming 
majority  of  the  ruling  class.  He  came  to  Texas,  but  all 
doctrines  and  issues  of  the  former  time  bloomed  into  life 
about  him  when  Texas  became  a  member  of  the  union. 
Creeping  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  manifold  blessings 
of  the  Union,  came  the  bitter  and  unceasing  strife.  At 
last  he  came  to  believe  the  quarrel  was  forced  upon  us, 
and  that  there  was  before  us  an  "irressible  ronflict" 
which  we  could  not  escape,  no  matter  where  we  turned 

The  Secession  Convention  of  1861  met — there  was  in- 
tense excitement  and,  need  I  say,  deep  gloom — the  hour 


120  MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK 

came  at  last  when  he  was  compelled  to  take  his  choice  for 
or  against  his  kith  and  kin.  The  question  was  no  longer 
whether  secession  was  right  or  wrong,  wise  or  unwise, 
the  question  was  now  narrowed  down  to  this — Even  if 
you  could  sever  your  fate  from  that  of  your  people, 
would  your  heart  permit  you  to  do  it? 

Thus  it  appeared  to  him,  and  he  did  a  simple,  straight- 
forward unselfish  act,  and  an  act  which  nevertheless 
gave  him  deep  pain,  when  he  cast  his  vote  for  secession. 

The  boys — well,  their  youthful  and  warm  sympathies 
were  aroused,  and  a  simple  sense  of  duty  carried  them 
hand  and  heart  with  their  state.  When  the  war  commen- 
ced, Lewis  was  attending  Chapel  Hill,  University  of  North 
Carolina — he  immediately  enlisted  for  six  months  in  the 
1st  North  Alabama  Regiment,  and  was  at  Big  Bethel, 
the  first  battle  of  the  war.  Sam  had  returned  from  col- 
lege— he  enlisted  in  the  1st  Texas  Cavalry,  under  Colonel 
Henry  McCulloch,  which  regiment  served  on  the  Indian 
frontier  for  one  year.  In  1862,  Sam  crossed  the  Mississip- 
pi River  and  attached  himself  to  the  8th  Texas  Cavalry, 
the  gallant  Terry  Rangers.  With  that  regiment  he  served 
until  the  war  was  ended  and,  whilst  with  them,  he  gained 
many  laurels,  for  tireless  devotion  and  unflinching  cour- 
age. Lewis  returned  to  us  at  the  end  of  his  first  en- 
listment, and  raised  a  company,  Company  "E",  for  the 
32nd  Texas  Cavalry  commanded  by  Colonel  Woods.  When 
the  company  was  mustered  in,  April,  1862,  George  at  the 
age  of  sixteen  was  sworn  in  with  the  rest  as  a  private  in 
his  brother's  company.  George  remained  a  soldier  and 
a  private  throughout  the  war.  Lewis  was  promoted  dur- 
ing 1864,  to  the  staff  of  General  DeBray,  with  the  rank 
of  Major.  At  the  battle  of  Blair's  Landing  on  Red  River, 
on  the  —  day  of  April,  1864,  Lewis  received  a  severe 
wound  in  the  leg  and  George  a  slight  scratch  on  his  left 
ear.  Sam  was  "scratched"  once  or  twice  but  he  seemed 
amidst  perils  and  dangerous  innumerable,  to  bear  a 
charmed  life. 

Willie  came  to  the  front  as  the  war  progressed  and  was 


MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  121 

mustered  in  during  January  1865.  When  he  was  just 
seventeen,  he  wore  the  gray.  So  that,  with  the  exception 
of  Allie,  who  was  too  young,  I  sent  all  my  boys  to  the 
front,  and  my  prayers  went  with  them,  and  neither  they 
nor  I  can  ever  be  ashamed  of  the  sense  of  honor  which 
led  them  to  battle  for  the  Lost  Cause.  When  the  war  was 
ended,  the  sentiment  was  unanimous  in  our  family,  that 
all  the  old  issues  had  been  settled,  and  that  the  result 
of  the  conflict  was  right. 

The  war  over,  July,  1865,  George  and  Willie  left 
home  to  attend  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  and 
afterwards  the  University  of  Virginia. 

In  1865,  Lewis  A.  Maverick  and  Ada  Bradley  were 
married.  They  settled  on  the  Colorado  near  Austin. 

Sam  was  with  his  regiment  in  North  Carolina,  when  the 
war  ended.  He  remained  awhile  at  Pendleton,  South 
Carolina,  with  his  relatives,  and  returned  to  us. 

Death  of  Lewis.  Lewis  became  almost  an  invalid  while 
attending  the  University  of  Vermont,  and  he  was  com- 
pelled for  his  health's  sake  to  prosecute  his  studies  at 
Chapel  Hill,  North  Carolina,  and  in  fact  he  was  never 
quite  well  after  his  second  winter  in  Burlington,  Vermont. 
During  the  war  he  bore  the  seeds  of  disease  visibly  on 
his  person  and  it  made  him  quite  unhappy  at  times  to 
feel  that  the  fatal  malady  was  slowly  but  surely  sapping 
his  vigor,  his  youth,  his  life. 

In  the  spring  of  1866,  his  maladies  developed  rapidly, 
and  it  soon  became  evident  that  he  could  not  live  long. 

No  child  was  born  of  this  union  between  Lewis  and  Ada. 
In  1870,  Ada  married  Major  Waelder,  a  prominent  and 
much  respected  lawyer  of  San  Antonio. 

In  September,  1869,  George  returned  from  college,  and 
in  October,  1869,  Mr.  Maverick  took  Mary  to  Staunton, 
Virginia,  where  she  entered  the  Episcopal  School  of  that 
place.  Mary  afterwards  completed  her  studies  in  New 
York  City  at  Mrs.  Hoffman's  School  for  young  ladies. 

Death  of  My  Husband.  Mr.  Maverick  was  not  strong 
or  well  in  1869,  and  it  was  upon  our  urgent  request  that 


122  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

he  went  with  Mary  to  Staunton,  and  the  trip  was  of  bene- 
fit to  him.  He  felt  that  the  grave  was  not  far  distant,  for 
in  the  fall  of  1869,  he  wrote  his  last  will  and  testament; 
but,  while  he  saw  that  disease  was  making  inroads  upon 
his  strength,  he  would  not  heed  the  suggestions  offered 
by  relatives  or  friends,  cautioning  him  to  remove  his  mind 
from  his  cares  and  his  business,  and  to  seek  rest  and  rec- 
reation by  travel,  or  in  the  curative  properties  of  the 
many  springs  in  the  Northern  States.  In  the  spring  of 
1870,  Mr.  Maverick  became  quite  feeble — at  last  in  Aug- 
ust, he  became  much  worse  and  we  no  longer  had  any 
hopes  of  his  recovery.  Mr.  Maverick  breathed  his  last 
on  the  2nd  day  of  September,  1870.  I  shall  make  no  com- 
ment here  upon  his  pure  and  noble  character,  or  upon  the 
tender  feelings  which  lay  deep  in  his  heart — I  comfort 
myself  with  the  sentiment  that  he  is  happy  now  in 

the  company  of  his  beloved  Agatha 

Since  the  death  of  my  beloved  husband,  not  a  death 
has  occurred  in  our  family.  My  five  remaining  children 
have  married  happily,  and  I  am  now  the  mother  of  ten 
children  again.  If  Mr.  Maverick  were  to  look  in  upon  us 
today,  he  would  be  gratified  at  the  good  will,  the  good 
health  and  the  good  fortune  which  have  come  and  re- 
mained with  us  during  the  ten  years  past.  I  am  thank- 
ful that  God  has  spared  me  this  long,  to  see  my  descend- 
ants all  happy  and  prosperous — and  I  hope  it  will  be 
many  years  before  the  pleasant  scene  I  am  contemplating 
shall  be  marred  by  misfortune  or  the  hand  of  death. 


-   ••;  - 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  123 


,   The   Term   "Maverick". 

What  a  pity  to  contradict  The  Century  Dictionary,  but  the  fol- 
lowing letters  tell  a  story  of  their  own: 

Extract  from  Letter  Written  for  the  St.  Louis  Republic. 

St.  Louis,  Nov.  16  1889.  In  response  to  your  request  I  here- 
with submit  an  account  of  the  origin  of  the  term  "maverick",  as 
applied  to  unbranded  cattle. 

Hon.  Samuel  A.  Maverick,  a  citizen  of  San  Antonio.  Tex.,  was, 
during  1845,  temporarily  residing  at  Decrows  Point,  on  Mata- 
gorda  Bay.  He  was  a  lawyer  with  a  strong  propensity  for  specu- 
lation in  real  estate.  In  fact,  all  the .  enterprising  men  in  Texas 
of  that  day  went  more  or  less  wild  over  real  estate  at  5  and  10 
cents  per  acre.  An  interesting  volume  could  be  written  on  the 
land  craze  of  that  period.  During  that  year  (1845)  a  neighbor  be- 
ing indebted  to  Mr.  Maveriiek  in  the  sum  of  $1,200  paid  the  debt  in 
cattle,  transferring  400  animals  at  $3  per  head.  Cattle  were  cheap 
in  those  days,  the  hides  only  being  cashable  in  the  foreign  mar- 
kets. Mr.  Maverick  did  net  want  the  cattle,  but  as  it  was  a  case 
of  cattle  or  nothing,  he  passively  received  them  and  left  them  in 
charge  of  a  colored  family,  nominally  slave,  but  essentially  free, 
while  he  and  his  own  family  returned  to  San  Antonio.  In  the  year  of 
1853  the  cattle  were  removed  from  the  Gulf  coast  to  the  Con- 
quista  ranch,  on  the  east  bank  of  the  San  Antonio  river,  50  miles 
below  San  Antonio.  Here  as  before,  under  the  poor  management 
of  the  colored  family,  who  really  were  not  to  blame,  as  they  'had 
no  interest  in  the  outcome,  the  cattle  were  left  to  graze,  to  fatten, 
to  multiply  and  to  wander  away.  Mr.Maverick  was  absorbed  in 
real  estate  and  no  doubt  enjoyed  the  reflection  that  he  was  not 
encumbered  by  either  the  cattle  or  their  managers. 

About  one-third  of  the  calves  were  branded,  and  the  branding- 
iron  was  kept  so  cold  and  rusty  that  in  1856  the  entire  plant 
or  "brand"  was  estimated  at  only  400  head,  the  original  number. 
To  the  ingenious  minded  the  explanation  will  occur  when  it  is 
stated  that  the  branding  of  "mavericks"  was  perfectly  "square" 
in  those  days,  although  the  occupation  had  not  been  distinctly 
named. 

Now  the  neighbors  shrewdly  surmised  these  calves  to  be  Maver- 
ick's, and  so  they  called  them  "mavericks" — but  did  they  continue 
to  recognize  them  as  such?  Ah  no;  they  hastened  to  burn  into 
their  hides  their  own  brands,  and  the  beasts  were  Maverick's, 
"mavericks"  no  longer.  The  reader  should  bear  in  mind  that 
before  the  day  of  fencing  no  owner  could  know  his  own  cattle 
on  the  range  except  by  the  brand,  and  so  the  first  brand  settled 
the  question  of  ownership.  Thus  the  unbranded  thray  calves  in 
those  days  were  dubbed  "mavericks,"  for  they  were  most  likely 
Maverick's,  at  least  in  that  neck  of  the  woods.  The  humorous  neigh- 
borss  who  profited  by  Mr.  Maverick's  indirect  liberality,  thus  jok- 
ingly gave  him  the  credit  for  it  and  while  they  secured  the  profits 
he  was  permitted  to  acquire  the  experience. 


124  MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVEBICK 

The  name  took,  and  spread,  for  Texas  was  then  the  heart  of 
ihe  cattle  industry  of  the  United  States.  About  the  year  1856, 
Mr.  Maverick  sold  the  entire  brand,  400  head,  "as  they  ran/'  to 
Mr.  A.  Toutant  Beauregard,  a  brother  of  the  distinguished  general. 
Mr.  Beauregard,  however,  paid  him  $6  per  head,  and  Mr.  Maver- 
ick retired  from  the  venture,  thoroughly  experienced  against 
similar  investments,  but  with  an  apparent  profit  of  100  per  cent 
and  the  unique  distinction  of  having  his  name  bestowed  upon  a 
very  dear  friend  of  the  human  race.  The  truth  is  Mr.  Maverick, 
was  never  a  cattle  king,  for,  with  the  exception  of  the  herd  men- 
tioned and  a  few  necessary  cow  ponies  he  never  owned  any  cattle 
or  horses. 

To  the  stockmen  of  the  West  I  submit  this  account  and  would  re- 
mind them  that  of  the  thousand  and  one  versions  of  the  story 
only  one  can  be  correct.  Be  assured  this  is  the  true  account. 

George  M.  Maverick. 


Matagorda  25th  Novr.  1849 
S.  Maverick,  Esq., 
Dr.    Sir, 

Your  servant  "Jack"  has  done  me  the  honor  t<? 
make  me  his  amanuensis  and  requests  that  I  inform  you  as 
follows,  viz: 

In  the  first  place  he  sends  his  most  dutiful  regards  to  you 
and  your  family  and  says  that  his  mother  and  self  are  quite  well. 
2nd.  He  says  that  he  is  very  anxious  to  see  you  as  without 
assistance  he  finds  it  quite  impossible  to  pen  and  brand  your 
cattle  on  the  Peninsula  and  the  stock  is  consequently  becoming 
more  wild  and  unmanageable  daily. 

3rd.  He  wishes  to  receive  your  approval  of  his  marriage,  which 
with  your  sanction  he  is  anxious  to  consummate  with  a  girl  here 
called  Elizabeth  and  owned  by  Miss  Ward. 

With  best  regards  to  self  and  family,  I  remain 
Your  humble   servt. 

John  C.   Graham 


Port   Lavaca,   Sept.    3rd,    1850 
Sam'l   A.   Maverick.    Esq.. 

Dear  Sir, 

Having  just   returned   from   the 

"Peninsula,"  Decrow's  Point.  T  heard  that  your  stock  of  cattle 
were  all  being  lost  or  stolen  from  want  of  proper  attention.  This 
report  so  unfavorable  to  your  interest  induced  me  to  suppose  that 
you  might  wish  or  find  it  to  your  interest  to  dispose  of  said  stock. 
I  therefore  address  you  this  letter.  If  you  wish  to  dispose  of  the 
balance  of  said  stock  I  will  offer  you  such  a  trade  that  I  think 
you  will  conceive  it  be  to  your  interest  to  make. 

I  have  a  tract  of  land  lying  in  Washington  County  on  the  waters 
of  Mill  Creek  six  miles  from  Brenham,  the  County  Seat,  well  tim- 
bered, well  watered  by  the  creek  and  springs  and  of  the  very 
best  quality  of  soil  (1/2  league)  title  warranted  been  in  possess- 
ion for  the  last  ten  years  house  and  improvements  and  eighty 
acres  under  fence  and  in  cultivation,  rented  now  for  $200  a  year. 

I  will  trade  you  this  tract  for  a  portion  of  the  Peyton  League 
on  Peyton's  Bayou  and  on  such  terms  as  I  think  will  suit  you.  The 


MEMOIES  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  125 

reason  I  make  this  proposition  is  that  I  wish  to  go  extensively 
into  the  stock  raising  business,  horses,  mules,  and  cattle,  and 
I  think  if  it  should  suit  you  that  we  could  make  such  arrange- 
ments as  would  be  mutually  acceptable  and  profitable. 

An  early  reply  will  oblige  , 

Your    obdt.    Servt. 

James  T.   Lytle. 


Matagorda,    July    24th.    1852. 
Mr.   Maverick, 

Dear   Sir. 

I    am    informed    that    you    want    to    dispose    of 
them    cattle    and    place    -on    the    Peninsula.    If    such    information 
should   be   correct,   you   will   please   state   the   price   and   terms   of 
saie — they   have   been    awfully   neglected,   not    branded   ever   since 
you   left,   and  will  do  you  very   little   good,   situated  as  they  are. 
Am,   Sir  Respectfully  yours   &. 
James  Stanley 


To 

Mr.    Maverick, 

San  Antonio 
Matagorda 

Mrs.Mavric 

Send  someone  to  look  after  your  stock  of  cattle 
immediately  or  you  will  not  have  in  eighteen  months  from  this 
time  one  yearling  nor  calf  to  ten  cows.  It  is  said  and  that  by 
some  of  our  most  respectable  citizens  that  yearlings  and  calves 
may  be  seen  by  dozens  following  and  sucking  your  cows  and  brand- 
ed in  other  people's  brands. 

While   I   am   writing   this   I   am    informed   that    Morrison,    Cove 

and   Worcester   have   each   written   to   Mr.   Maverick  on   this   same 

subject.  But  for  fear  that  you  are  not  apprised  of  it  and  hearing 

that   Mr.   Maverick   is   net   in  Texas,   I   give  you   this   information. 

In    haste. 

Respectffully, 

A  friend  to  Justice 
May  1853 


San  Pedro,  18th  July,  1856 
Hon'ble.   S.  A.  Maverick, 

Austin. 
Dear  Sir, 

Upon  my  reaching  my  "rancho"  after  our  last  interview, 
I  called  to  see  Jack  two  or  three  times,  but  not  finding  him  at 
home,  he  being  out  gathering  your  stock,  I  presume,  I  finally 
sent  him  word  by  one  of  my  negroes  that  you  said  "as  soon  as 
he  would  gather  your  cattle  he  should  let  me  know."  This  mes- 
sage, by-the-bye,  appears  rather  to  have  displeased  the  white  man 
who  received  it,  Jack  being  absent  at  the  time.  However  this  may 
be,  Jack  soon  returned,  and  sent  me  word  that  he  then  had  about 
200  Hds.  of  your  cattle  in  the  range,  and  would  comply  with  the 


126  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.   MAVERICK 

request  as  soon  as  he  could  make  some  drives.  But  as  yet  I  have 
received  no  message  from  him;  and  time  slipping  on  fastly,  I 
find  I  will  have  to  leave  for  Louisiana  before  having  got  through 
with  this  matter.  But  my  son  will  be  here  ready  to  receive  your 
cattle  ait  any  (time,  should  my  proposals  prove  acceptable  -to 
you.  From  what  your  son,  who  procured  him  the  pleasure  of  a 
visit,  told  mine,  (I  being  absent  from  home)  Jack  had  on  the 
other  day,  as  he  said,  about  200  again.  Now  I  must  conclude  that 
the  negro  boy  is  not  over  anxious  that  you  should  sell  your  stock, 
either  because  he  has  there,  indeed,  an  enviable  birth,  or  because 
he  does  not  wish  you  to  be  convinced,  by  counting,  of  the  gross 
negligence  of  which  he  has  been  guilty.  Under  the  circumstances, 
I  do  not  believe  he  will  ever  gather  300  heads.  Therefore  I  will 
make  you  the  following  proposals:  to-wit:  I  will  take  the  whole 
stock  as  it  now  stands,  and  pay  you  for  same,  Two  thousand 
Dollars  cash,  provided  you  have  disposed  of  no  other  beeves  than 
those  taken  by  Capt.  Walker.  Or,  I  will  pay  you  upon  delivery, 
Seven  Dollars  25/100  per  head.  In  either  case,  I  should  have  the 
exclusive  ,use  of  your  "jacal"  &  "coral",  and  of  the  premises  from 
Mr.  Radaz'  lower  line,  on  the  San  Antonio  River,  down  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Marcelina  for  three  years  at  least.  Should  any  of 
these  proposals  be  agreeable,  please  inform  my  son  of  the  same 
by  writing  to  "Leo  J.  Toutant,  care  of  J.  Twohig,  Esq.,  San  An- 
tonio". Or  by  writing  to  myself  to  Bladon  Springs,  Alabama, 
whither  I  am  going. 

I  again  repeat,  Dr.  Sir,  what  I  said  before:  "that  it  is  your  inter- 
est  to    sell   and    mine    to    purchase".   And    the    sooner   the   better. 
With  high  respect,  T  remain,  Sir, 
Truly  yours, 

(Signed)  A.Toutant. 

P.  S'.  I  understand  that  your  men  say  we  have  branded  two  of 
your  calves.  I  have  requested  Mr.  Whetstone  to  see  into  the  mat- 
ter, and  if  so,  apply  the  proper  remedy.  Indeed  I  am  surprised 
that  this  has  not  happened  more  frequently,  so  little  have  your 
cattle  been  attended  to.  The  payment,  if  you  accept,  will  be  made 
through  the  agency  of  my  friend,  J.  Twohig,  Esq.  Please  write 
me  word  at  Bladon  Springs  of  the  result  of  Mr.  Thibodeaux's  pe- 
tition, which  you  had  the  kindness  of  taking  charge. 
For  want  of  opportunity  this  letter  has  laid  over  several  days,  and 
mailed  only  on  my  way  down. 


Austin,   Texas,   August    13th,    1856 
Mr.  Leo  S.  Toutant, 

Dear  Sir, 

T    rec'd    a    short    time    since    from    your 

father  a  letter  dated  July  18,  but  which  was  mailed  on  his  de- 
parture from  Louisiana,  in  which  he  offered  me  seven  dollars  and 
a  quarter  per  head  for  my  cattle  at  Conquista,  or  two  thousand 
lor  the  lot  without  the  difficulty  and  trouble  of  herding. 

By  last  night's  mail  I  have  word  that  my  negro  boy  is  driven 
away,  and  his  life  threatened,  &c.,  so  that  I  have  now  no  power 
to  take  care  of  the  stock.  Your  Father  wanted  the  corrals  and 
my  land  down  to  the  Marcelina  for  at  least  3  years.  I  judge  the 
cattle,  my  oxen,  all  the  beeves  (except  5  or  6  I  sold  to  Capt. 
Walker  some  months  since)  &  80  calves  would  be  worth  over  3 
thousand.  But  situated  as  I  am  and  considering  the  impossibility 
cf  my  attending  to  the  business,  I  will  now  propose  to  you  to 


MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  127 

take  all  of  said  cattle  and  oxen  on  the  premises  and  those  which 
have  strayed,  at  the  sum  offered  by  your  father,  provided  you 
will  consent  to  take  and  allow  $250  for  the  wagon,  yokes,  hogs 
and  horses, that  are  mine,  and  I  am  throwing  in  without  rent  a 
large  tract  and  good  corral  &c.  You  know  your  father's  wishes 
and  can  write  me  that  you  will  take,  or  not,  the  whole  affair  at 
$2250,  If  so,  it  will  be  a  finished  trade  between  us.  But  if  you  do 
not  wish  to  do  so  until  you  hear  from  your  father,  please  write 
me  a  letter  to  that  effect,  and  in  the  meantime  it  would  result 
to  the  interest  of  your  father  and  be  greatly  valued  by  me  if 
you  will  send  your  herders  around  to  gather  up  the  stock  and  let 
it  be  understood  you  are  buying  them,  so  as  to  save  them  being 
run  off  by  theives. 

Please  write  and  direct  me  at  San  Antonio,  as  I  wish  the  letter 
to  be  reed,  by  my  family.  1  address  this  to  the  care  of  Mr.  Twohig 
by  a  direction  in  your  father's  letter. 

Dear  Sir,  I  remain 

Yours  truly  &c. 
(Signed)  S.    A.    Maverick 


Rancho   de   San   Pedro,   Aug.    21st,    1856 
S.  A.  Maverick,  Esq. 

Dear  Sir, 

I  had  the  honor  of  receiving  yester- 
day a  letter  from  you  dated  the  13th  inst.  in  which  I  see  that 
you  would  be  willing  of  accepting  father's  propositions,  if  he 
would  consent  at  the  same  time  to  take  in  the  sale  your  horses, 
hogs,  &c.  for  $250. 

Father  having  never  mention  to  me  of  nothing  else  but  of  the 
offer  that  he  had  made  to  you  that  is  to  say  $7  per  head  or 
$2,000  for  the  whole  stock  without  excepting  any.  and  at  the  same 
time  to  have  the  use  of  your  corrals  for  three  years. 

It  would  be  out  of  my  power  to  give  you  a  direct  answer  for 
your  last  proposition  till  I  learn  from  him,  though  if  you  happen 
to  make  up  your  mind  to  let  me  have  the  cattle  at  his  said  price, 
1  wish  you  would  come  down  or  send  a  responsible  man  when  we 
would  finish  gathering  to  put  your  own  brand  on  all  those  that 
Jack  neglected  to  brand  before  we  put  ours  on  as  it  was  father's 
direction  when  he  started,  and  I  shall  bear  the  responsibility  to 
take  in,  your  horses,  hogs,  yokes  and  chains  at  a  reasonable  price, 
piovided  that  some  one  delivers  them  to  me  as  I  do  not  know 
how  many  horses  you  have  nor  what  they  are!  A.s  for  your  hogs 
I  have  not  perceive  any  of  them  for  a  very  long  time;  the  rest 
of  your  little  things  on  the  Rancho  we  would  have  no  use  for, 
principally  of  your  wagon  which  is  all  rusty  and  rotten. 

If  you  consent,  please  have  the  kindness  to  give  me  a  direct 
answer  so  that  we  might  commence  the  hardest  work  that  we 
ever  practiced. 

I  remain  yours   very  respectfully, 
Leo  J.  Toutant 


128  MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK 

LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    SAMUEL    AUGUSTUS    MAVERICK 

DELIVERED    OCT.    1870    BEFORE    THE 

ALAMO    LITERARY    SOCIETY 

BY   GEO.   CUPPLES   M.   D. 

Samuel  Augustus  Maverick  was  born  on  the  28th  of  July,  1803, 
his  mother  being  a  daughter  of  General  Robert  Anderson,  of  South 
Carolina,  of  Revolutionary  renown.  Of  Mr.  Maverick's  boyhood 
and  youth  little  is  known.  Having  received  preliminary  education 
in  his  own  State,  he  entered  Yale  College,  where  he  graduated. 
During  his  journeyings  to  and  from  Yale  he  made  the  acquaintance 
of  one  destined  to  be  for  long  years  his  friend  and  neighbor,  and 
to  follow  him  to  the  tomb  at  an  interval  of  but  thirteen  days.  This 
was  the  late  Wm.  B.  Jacques,  who  often  spoke  of  the  gravity  and 
sedateness  beyond  his  years  of  the  young  Maverick,  whom  he  had 
first  known  in  the  morning  of  life. 

At  this  time  Mr.  Maverick's  friends  looked  forward  to  the  time 
when  he  should  become  a  leading  man,  and  he  himself  was  am- 
bitious to  excel  and  to  take  a  political  stand.  But  his  views  were 
diametrically  opposed  to  the  nullification  ideas  of  the  Carolinians, 
and  he  could  not  compromise  with  his  opinions.  He  was  not  a 
disciple  of  Calhoun,  through  personally  an  admirer  of  the  trans- 
cendent talent  of  that  great  statesman.  Finding  himself  in  politics 
directly  at  variance  with  all  his  neighbors,  he  left  the  State.  An 
incident  growing  out  of  this  difference  had,  no  doubt,  an  important 
part  in  determining  him  to  such  a  step  as  emigration,  then  much 
less  common  than  now.  His  father  on  one  occassion,  after  having 
answered  Mr.  Calhoun  in  a  speech  of  great  power,  was  made  the 
subject  of  some  intemperate  remarks,  which  his  son  resented  by 
challenging  the  utterer  of  them.  In  the  encounter  he  wounded 
his  antagonist,  and  afterwards  nursed  him  until  his  recovery.  Pre- 
vious to  this  he  had  studied  law  under  Henry  St.  George  Tucker, 
at  Winchester,  Virginia,  and  had  been  admitted  to  practice  at 
the  bar  of  his  own  State. 

He  first  moved  to  Alabama,  and  thence,  in  1834,  to  Texas,  ar- 
riving at  San  Antonio  in  1835.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  Messrs. 
Maverick,  Jno.  W.  Smith  and  P.  B.  Cocke  were  arrested  by  Col. 
Ugartachia,  commanding  the  Mexican  troops  who  occupied  the 
city.  During  their  incarceration  they  contrived  to  keep  up  intel- 
ligence with  Gen.  Burleson,  who  commanded  the  Texan  army  then 
investing  the  town.  On  one  occasion  these  three  gentlemen  were 
sentenced  on  suspicion  to  be  shot,  and  were  actually  marched  to 
the  place  of  execution,  when  Mrs.  Smith,  now  the  wife  of  Mr. 
James  B.  Lee,  living  on  the  Medina,  appeared  on  the  ground,  fell 
upon  the  earth,  embracing  the  feet  of  the  Mexican  commander, 
begging  piteously  for  a  further  investigation  of  their  case.  The 
investigation  was  finally  granted,  and  resulted  in  the  clearing  of 
the  prisoners,  who  were,  however,  kept  under  close  guard.  They 
made  their  escape,  nevertheless,  and  joined  the  Texan  army.  Early 
on  the  moring  of  the  5th  of  December,  1835,  Col.  Ben.  Milam  at- 
tacked the  city;  S.  A.  Maverick  as  guide,  with  Milam  at  the  head 
of  the  right  division,  moving  down  Soledad  street  to  the  LaGarza 
House — Johnson,  commanding  the  left,  marching  down  Acequia 
street  to  the  same  point,  with  Jno.  W.  Smith  for  guide.  The  can- 
non posted  at  the  corner  of  the  Main  Plaza  swept  these  streets. 
To  procure  water  cur  troops  took  the  Veramendi  House  by  dig- 
ging a  trench  of  five  feet  in  depth  across  the  street  during  the  night 
of  the  fifth,  and  so  going  back  and  forth  with  heads  bent  to  avoid 
the  grapeshot.  Of  the  seven  hundred  volunteers  under  Burleson 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  129 

at  the  "Old  Mill'  above  town,  only  two  hundred  fifty  were  un- 
der Milam — others  joined  them  two  days  later,  but  the  greater 
number  had  gone  home  or  to  Goliad,  where  a  force  was  then 
gathering  to  move  against  Matamoras.  On  the  8th,  Milam  was 
killed  in  the  yard  of  the  Veramendi  House,*  being  shot  through 
the  head;  and  by  his  side  stood  Mr.  Maverick.  On  the  10th  the 
Mexicans  ran  up  the  white  flag  of  surrender.  The  Texan  troops 
had  fought  incessantly  night  and  day,  and  had  taken  all  the 
square  block  of  buildings  fronting  the  north  side  of  the  Main 
Plaza,  by  digging  through  the  walls  of  the  houses  from  one  to 
another.  Where  the  Plaza  House  now  stands  there  lived  £he 
priest,  Padre  Garza;  trom  this  house  the  Texans  made  a  charge 
and  took  and  spiked  the  guns,  the  fire  of  which  had  been  con- 
centrated on  that  building  and  was  fast  crumbling  it  down.  In 
this  charge  Col,  Ward  lost  a  leg,  and  the  young  Carolinian,  Bonham, 
an  eye.  The  Mexican  gunners  fled  or  were  cut  to  pieces.  This  was 
on  the  morning  of  the  10th,  and  was  followed  by  the  capitulation 
of  Gen.  Cos,  who  was  permitted  to  retire  with  his  troops  across 
the  Rio  Grande.  Bancroft  Llbllffjl 

Mr.  Maverick's  absence  on  March  6th,  1836,  the  day  of  line  mas- 
sacre of  the  Alamo,  was  due  to  his  being  sent  a  delegate  to  the 
Convention  of  the  people  of  Texas,  in  which  capacity  he,  on  the  2nd 
day  of  March,  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence;  the  Hon.  Jose 
Antonio  Navarre  being  the  other  delegate  from  the  municipality 
of  Bexar,  also  present  and  signing. 

After  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  the  result  of  which  secured 
the  safety  of  Texas,  for  a  time  at  least,  Mr.  Maverick  returned 
to  Alabama,  where  he  married,  in  August  of  the  same  year,  and 
in  1838,  returned  to  San  Antonio  with  his  family. 

In  March,  1842,  Gen.  Vasquez  invaded  western  Texas  entering 
San  Antonio  with  nine  hundred  men.  On  this  occasion,  Mr.  Twohig 
blew  up  his  store  to  prevent  the  ammunition  it  contained  from 
falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  few  American  families 
then  living  in  San  Antonio  had  made  good  their  escape  in  time; 
retiring  to  the  Brazos  river.  The  family  of  Mr.  Maverick  did  not 
return  to  San  Antonio  until  1847. 

On  the  12th  day  of  September,  of  the  same  year,  the  District 
Court  being  in  session,  a  Mexican  citizen,  now  dead,  was  visited 
by  some  of  his  countrymen,  known  to  be  in  the  Mexican  service; 
from  them  he  ascertained  that  Gen.  Woll  was  close  at  hand 
with  a  force  of  fourteen  hundred  men.  This  intelligence  he  com- 
municated to  Don  Antonio  Manchaca,  who  lost  no  time  in  making 
it  known  to  Judge  Hutchinson.  The  few  troops  stationed  in  San 
Antonio  immediately  withdrew,  but  the  American  citizens,  with  the 
members  of  the  bar,  the  presiding  judge  at  their  head,  decided  on 
defending  the  place;  Mr.  Maverick,  who  was  urgent  in  favor  of  this 
course,  declaring  that  they  ought  to  set  the  example  of  resistence 
and  that  whatever  might  be  their  fate,  they  would  at  least  check 
the  advance  of  the  enemy,  and  give  time  for  succor  to  arrive  from 
the  few  and  scattered  settlements  which  existed  at  that  day  in 


*This  typical  Spanish  House,  a  quaint  landmark  until  recent  years,  was  the 
home  of  Jean  Martin  Veramendi,  vice-governor  of  Coahuila  and  Texas,  elected 
in  1830.  Veramendi  was  known  as  a  "man  of  liberal  principles"  and  was 
naturally  friendly  towards  San  Antonio  since  he  was  a  resident.  His  daughter 
married  James  Bowie  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  "Alamo." 

In  1835  Ben  Milam  was  shot  about  twenty  feet  back  of  the  Veramendi 
kome ;  S.  A.  Maverick  who  with  Deaf  Smith  had  guided  the  Texan  forces  into 
the  city,  stood  beside  Milam  and  caught  him  in  his  arms  as  he  fell  dead. 

A  narrow  street  south  of  the  Wolff  and  Marx  store,  Veramendi  St.,  is  all  that 
is  left  to  mark  this  historic  spot. 


130  MEMOIES  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

western  Texas.  They  accordingly,  in  the  night  of  Saturday,  the  12th, 
took  up  their  position  on  the  flat  roof  of  the  building  known  as 
Maverick's,  forming  the  corner  of  Commerce  and  Soledad  streets, 
and  commanding  all  the  entrances  to  Main  Plaza.  The  little  band 
numbered  fifty-three  Americans  and  one  Mexican,  Mr.  Manchaca, 
who  had  served  through  the  War  of  Independence,  from  Bexar  to 
San  Jacinto,  and  was  especially  marked  for  vengeance  by  Santa 
Anna.  Soon  after  daylight,  in  a  thick  fog,  the  Mexican  troops  en- 
tered the  Main  Plaza,  music  in  front,  little  expecting  the  reception 
which  awaited  them.  A  pealing  volley  from  the  Texan  j'ifles 
checked'  their  march,  and  before  Woll  cohild  withdraw  them, 
fourteen  were  slain  outright  and  twenty-seven  wounded.  Having 
placed  his  men  under  cover,  Gen.  Woll  brought  up  two  six-pound- 
er guns,  and  being  well  advised  of  the  numerical  weakness  of  the 
Texans,  made  his  disposition  for  surrounding  them  and  cutting 
off  their  escape.  On  the  roof  of  the  Dwyer  House,  on  the  south- 
east corner  of  the  Plaza,  he  posted  thirty-five  Cushatta  Indians, 
who  formed  part  of  his  force.  Another  detachment  crossed  the 
river  and  took  post  near  the  pecan  tree,  in  front  of  the  barracks. 
The  east  bank  was  guarded  by  Cavalry,  also,  and  the  preparations 
of  the  Mexican  commander  being  now  complete,  he  sent  an  officer, 
with  a  flag,  to  summon  the  little  band  to  surrender  as  honorable 
prisoners  of  war,  adding,  that  if  the  conditions  offered  were  not 
accepted  within  ten  minutes,  he  would  advance  on  them  with  the 
bayonet.  During  the  fire  of  musketry  and  artillery  to  which  they 
were  exposed  while  Woll  was  posting  his  troops,  it  is  singular  that 
not  one  of  the  little  band  of  Texans  was  hit;  they  being  partially 
covered  by  the  low  parapet  of  the  flat-roofed  house.  The  only  one  of 
them  that  received  any  injury  was  Mr.  Manchaca,  who  was  struck 
on  the  knee  by  a  fragment  of  stone  detached  by  a  round  shot — 
from  the  effects  of  which  he  walks  lame  to  this  day.  Resistance 
being  evidently  vain,  the  small  band  surrendered,  and  were,  on  the 
retreat  of  Woll.  marched  to  the  Castle  of  Perote,  and  there  im- 
prisoned, under  circumstances  of  the  greatest  harshness. 

Gen.  Woll  has  been  generally  and  loudly  denounced  for  breach 
of  faith  toward  his  prisoners;  but  it  is  not  generally  known  that 
in  sparing  their  lives  he  disobeyed  the  express  orders  of  Presi- 
dent Santa  Anna,  to  put  to  death  every  man  taken  with  arms  in 
liis  hands  as  a  rebel  and  a  traitor.  These  orders  were  shown  by 
Woll,  in  1863,  to  an  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Maverick  (now  present) 
— on  which  occasion  he  made  many  friendly  inquires  for  Maver- 
ick, Colquhoun,  Twohig,  and  others,  by  name.  When  asked  why 
he  had  not  defended  his  course  by  the  publication  of  these  orders, 
Woll  replied  be  himself  owed,  not  only  his  life  under  similar 
circumstance,  to  the  intervention  of  Santa  Anna,  but  also  his 
position  in  the  Mexican  army,  and  that  he  could  not  honorably 
vindicate  himself  by  the  exposure  of  one  to  whom  he  owed  so 
much. 

After  the  surrender  of  Maverick,  Colquhoun,  Twohig,  Hutch- 
inson,  and  Jtheir  companions,  rVVoll  was  utterly  defeated  with 
great  loss,  five  miles  from  San  Antonio,  on  the  Solado,  by  the  Tex- 
ans under  Hays  and  Burleson,  and  without  loss  .on  their  own 
side,  if  we  except  the  La  Grange  company,  under  Captain  Dawson, 
which  was  surrounded  by  the  Mexican  troops  in  the  prairie,  while 
on  march  to  rendezvous,  and  cut  to  pieces;  seven  only  of  their 
number  escaping. 

On  the  23rd,  Woll  marched  on  his  return  to  Mexico,  carrying 
his  citizen-prisoners  with  him.  On  the  way,  one  of  the  number, 
Mr.  Cunningham,  died  and  was  buried  on  the  Leona.  On  their  ar- 


MEMOIRS  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  131 

rival  at  Perote  they  were  subjected  to  the  most  humiliating  and 
cruel  treatment,beng  confined  to  cells,  and  frequently  chained  two 
together;  Major  Colquhoun  being,  if  I  mistake  not,  Mr.  Maverick's 
companion  in  these  bonds  of  adversity.  Of  these  they  were  relieved 
trom  time  to  time,  to  work  on  a  stone  quarry,  or  on  the  road  which 
San  Anna  was  constructing  to  his  palace  of  Tacubaya.  I  have  seen 
the  quondam  prisoners  smile  grimly  when  allusion  was  made  to 
the  little  work  the  Mexicans  got  out  of  the  Texan  captives.  While 
they  were  here  many  attempts  were  made  to  bribe  them  with 
promises  of  office  and  favor,  and  Mr.  Maverick  particularly,  was 
approached,  on  account  of  his  influence  in  Bexar;  but  he,  like 
his  companions  in  captivity,  had  naught  but  scorn  for  their  offers, 
which  utterly  failed  to  seduce  them  from  their  faith  and  allegiance 
to  Texas. 

By  the  intercession  of  Waddy  Thompson,  then  American  minister 
to  Mexico,  and  a  relative  of  Mr.  Maverick,  the  latter,  with  Judge 
Wm.  E.  Jones  and  old  Judge  Hutchinson,  were  released  in  April. 
1843;  others  were  released  at  the  instance  of  the  British  minister; 
while  others,  of  whom  the  leader  was  Jno.  Twohig,  disdained  to 
ask  protection  from  either  power,  and  manfully  dug  their  way 
out  of  the  fortress,  making  good  their  escape  to  Texas,  in  the 
spring  of  1844. 

The  following  extract  from  a  report  of  a  speech  made  by  Gen. 
Waddy  Thompson,  at  .  Greenville,  South  Carolina,  in  May  1844t 
sets  the  conduct  and  character  of  Mr.  Maverick  during  his  cap- 
tivity, in  the  most  honorable  light.  "Amongst  the  many  interesting 
"incidents  which  General  Thompson  mentioned,  there  wa$  one 
"particularly  so,  as  it  related  particularly  to  a  gentleman  born 
"  and  educated  In  this  neighborhood — Mr!  Samuel  A.  Maverick — 
"which,  in  the  language  of  Gen.  Thompson,  was  not  only  honor 
"able  to  the  man  himself,  but  to  human  nature.  Mr.  Maverick 
"was  a  young  man  of  large  fortune,  with  a  young  wife  and  three 
"or  four  interesting  children.  When  he  arrived  at  his  prison,  at 
"Perote,  he  wrote  to  General  Thompson,  informing  him  that  he  was 
"there  ?.nd  in  chains,  but  said  that  he  neither  asked  nor  ex- 
pected any  interposition  from  Gen.  Thompson,  as  he  considered 
"that  such  interposition  might  not  be  proper,  and  only  asking  the 
"(General  to  convey  some  letters  to  his  family.  Gen.  Thompson 
"neverless,  set  about  obtaining  his  release,  and  as  there  was  then 
"a  negotiation  on  foot  for  reannexation  of  Texas  to  Mexico,  Gen. 
"Thompson  wrote  to  Mr.  Maverick,  saying  that  if  he  was  really  in 
"favor  of  such  reannexation,  and  would  say  so,  he  thought  his 
"release  would  certainly  be  granted,  as  he,  Gen.  Thompson,  would 
"say  to  Santa  Anna  that  any  promise  which  Maverick  made  would 
'certainly  be  complied  with.  Mr.  Maverick  replied:  'I  regret  that 
"I  cannot  bring  myself  to  think  that  it  would  be  to  the  interest 
"of  Texas  to  re-unite  with  Mexico.  This  being  my  settled  opinion, 
"I  cannot  sacrifice  the  interest  of  my  country  even  to  obtain  my 
"liberty;  still  less  can  I  say  so  when  such  is  not  my  opinion,  for 
"I  regard  a  lie  as  a  crime,  and  one  which  I  cannot  commit.  Gen. 
"Thompson  said  that  he  felt  a  special  pride  in  this  heroic  virtue 
"because  Mr.  Maverick  was  a  South  Carolinian,  his  neighbor,  and 
"the  'kinsman  of  his  kinsman.'" 

I  have  dwelt  at  length  on  the  history  of  the  taking  of  San 
Antonio,  andf  the  adventures  of  the  prisoners  taken  there,  as 
they  constitute  the  last  episode  of  the  Texas-Mexican  war,  of  which 
San  Antonio  was  the  theatre,  and  they  may  give  some  idea  of 
the  danger  and  hardships  to  which  the  old  Texans  were  exposed. 

During    his    captivity.    Mr.    Maverick    was    elected    by    his    fellow 


132  MEMOIRS  OF  MABY  A.  MAVERICK 

citizens  of  Bexar  to  the  Senate.  On  his  return,  he  found  his  family 
at  La  Grange,  all  sick;  after  removing  them  to  the  coast,  near 
Decrows  Point,  he  returned  to  South  Carolina  to  procure  means 
to  meet  obligations  which  he  assumed  in  many  instances  for 
the  relief  of  his  more  necessitous  companions  in  captivity.  He 
gradually  sold  his  property  elsewhere  and  invested  in  Texas  lands. 
In  1847  he  returned  to  San  Antonio,  where  he  continued  to  reside 
up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  September  2nd  of  this  year. 

In  1838  he  took  out  his  law  license  in  San  Antonio.  From  1838 
until  1842  he  was  one  of  Hays'  minute  men,  and  often  followed 
the  trail  of  the  marauding  Indians  under  that  celebrated  chieftain. 
He  accompanied  his  old  leader,  in  1848%  on  his  expedition  to 
open  the  route  from  San  Antonio  to  El  Paso  del  Norte.  On  this 
memorable  trip  they  lost  their  way,  and  were  at  the  point  of 
starvation — one  man  actually  perishing  of  hunger;  when  they  were 
guided  by  Indians  to  San  Elisario,  on  the  Rio  Grande,  where  they 
lound  food  and  rest.  Their  route  back  from  El  Paso  established 
to  brand  mine...,"  but  the  following  article  and  letters  tell  a  story 

In  February.  1861,  as  one  of  the  three  Commissioners  of  the 
Committee  of  Public  Safety,  he  was  charged  with  the  delicate  duty 
of  procuring  the  removal  of  the  United  States  troops  from  the 
State  of  Texas — and  that  all  this  was  effected  without  bloodshed, 
and  with  so  little  of  inconvenience  or  humiliation  to  the  officers 
and  men  who  had  so  long  been  friends  among  us,  constitutes  one 
of  his  highest  titles  to  the  respect  and  gratitude  of  his  fellow- 
citizens,  and  a  very  little  acquaintance  with  the  situation  of  af 
fairs  at  that  time  will  satisfy  any  one,  whatever  views  he  may 
entertain  on  the  question  of  secession,  that  but  for  this  action  of 
the  Commissioners,  civil  war  would  have  been  inaugurated  in  the 
State;  the  Federal  troops — numerous,  well  equipped  and  well 
commanded,  forming  a  nucleus  for  an  army  composed  of  the  forces 
which  the  Governor  had  already  commanded  to  organize  for  the 
maintenance  of  Federal  authority.  No  one  who  knows  the  feelings 
which  prevailed  throughout  Texas  can  doubt  that  the  Union  army 
would  soon  have  succumbed,  but  I  repeat,  that  to  the  prudent  yet 
energetic  action  of  the  Commissioners,  and  of  their  coadjutors, 
Texas  owes  it  that  no  blood  was  shed  within  her  borders,  and  that 
she  escaped  the  horrors  of  war  which  devastated  her  sister  States. 

With  this  closed  the  public  functions  of  Mr  Maverick,  which 
he  had  exercised  in  various  capacities  from  the  memorable  day 
when  he  affixed  his  signature  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  always  with  credit  to  himself  and  advantage  to  his  constituents; 
his  public  services  in  either  House,  in  conventions,  or  in  any  capac- 
ity whatever,  being  rendered  with  disinterestedness  and  freedom 
from  all  personal  and  party  consideration;  which,  I  trust,  will  yet 
from  all  personal  and  party  considerations. 

Truthful  to  a  punctilio  no  man  can  say  that  he  ever  used  equivo- 
cal language,  and  his  sincerety  was  testified  to  by  the  confidence 
he  commanded  from  all  who  knew  him.  And  of  those  who  enjoyed 
that  privilege,  who  is  there  who  does  not  remember  to  admire 
that  courtesy  of  the  old  school  which  is  fast  passing  away? 

Prudent  and  considerate,  he  never  said  of  the  absent  one  word, 
which  uttered  in  their  presence,  could  have  wounded  or  pained 
them.  Modest  and  retiring  to  a  fault  he  ever  manifested  that 
iorgetfulness  of  his  own  comfort  and  convenience  which  is  the 
true  test  of  good  breeding. 

He  was  frugal  and  unostentatious  in  his  habits,  and  he  carried 
into  practice  his  philosophic  scorn  of  the  gewgaws  of  fashion  and 
of  display.  Years  ago,  when  sickness  and  distress  pressed  hard  on 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK  133 

the  poor  classes  in  San  Antonio,  secretly,  and  as  a  thief  in  the 
night,  Mr.  Maverick  came  unto  the  then  mayor  of  the  city,  bear- 
ing somethng  tinder  his  cloak — that  cloak  which,!  among  the 
older  inhabitants  may  be  remembered  as  an  historical  relic — 
drawing  forth  the  hidden  object,  Mr.  Maverick,  in  his  peculiar 
hurried  manner,  begged  his  honor  to  undertake  the  distribution 
among  the  necessitions  of  a  thousand  dollars,  his  contribution 
in  this  time  of  suffering,  and  above  all,  to  say  nothing  of  it. 

To  this  Society  he  leaves  the  signal  honor  of  having  inscribed 
his  name  on  the  roll  of  its  founders,  and  the  task  of  rearing  on 
the  site,  which  you  owe  to  his  munificence,  an  edifice  which  may 
do  honor  to  the  donor  and  credit  to  your  young  Association,  the 
Alamo  Literary  Society;  a  task  in  which  1  trust  you  will  be  aided 
by  the  wealthier  members  of  the  community. 

To  the  inheritors  of  his  name  he  has  bequeathed  a  heritage 
richer  than  broad  lands,  more  precious  than  fine  gold — the  name 
of  a  just,  an  upright  and  a  conscientious  man,  of  one  who  never 
compromised  with  his  convictions,  who  never  bowed  the  knee  to 
expediency;  and  let  them  ever  remember  that  the  name  they 
bear  has  long  been  a  synonym  for  honor,  integrity  and  truth. 


SUBSTANCE    COPY    TO    CAPT.    COMDT.    HOWE,    SAN    ANTONIO 

BEXAR 

Capt.   Coindt.   S.   M.   Howe, 
San  Antonio,   Bexar  Co. 

Port    Cavallo,    Matagorda    Co.,    Tex. 

July  3rd,   1847. 
My  dear  Sir:  — 

I  desire  to  make  my  excuses  to  Capt.  Rawlins  for 
not  giving  him  a  decisive  answer  in  regard  to  some  Alamo  prop- 
erty, and  as  I  am  indebted  to  you  for  many  civilities  and  you 
were  the  first  to  introduce  the  subject  of  the  Goverment's  sup- 
posed right  to  the  same,  I  am  going  to  beg  of  you  the  favor  to  say 
to  Capt.  Rawlins  that  the  time  intervening  between  our  inter- 
view and  my  hurried  departure  from  San  Antonio  was  so  short 
that  I  was  unable  to  make  any  very  extensive  discoveries  on  the 
subject.  But  I  did  inquire  of  two  or  three  of  the  old  inhabitants, 
persons  of  information  and  veracty,  who  stated  to  me  uniquivocally 
that  the  Alamo  never  was  a  fort,  barracks,  or  "anything  of  a  Gov- 
ernment post  or  military  establishment  but  that  it  was  a  mission — 
"The  Mission  of  San  Antonio  de  Velero,"  like  those  missions  below 
San  Antonio  and  others  over  Mexico  generally.  It  was  enclosed  in 
walls  about  150  yards  square  in  the  first  instance  as  a  protection 
against  wild  Indians  and  afterwards  given  as  a  sort  of  uniform 
fashion  for  Catholic  Indian  Missions.  These  persons  when  questioned 
by  me  with  regard  to  those  uniform  arches  noticed  by  you  and  me 
on  the  West  side,  state  with  much  plausibility  (and  no  doubt  truth) 
that  these  were  the  cells  of  the  priests,  etc.  These  arched  buildings 
proclaim  such  :»,  uniformity  and  unity  of  plan;  but  I  think  you 
gentlemen  will  agree  with  me  that  they  belonged  to  no  part  of 
the  plan  of  a  fort.  Being  a  Mission  and  having  strong  walls  and 
contiguous  stone  houses  caused  it  to  be  first  used  in  1835  and 
-6,  etc.  by  the  Mexican  Military  as  a  convenient  place. 

I  was  myself  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  General  Cos.  in  Dec.  1835 
in  San  Antonio.  Gen'l  Cos'  and  Ugartechia's  principal  barracks  were 
in  the  Military  square  in  this  city  in  1835.  Upon  the  approach  of 


134  MEMOIRS  OF  MARY  A.  MAVERICK 

the  first  Texan  army  under  Austin,  Cos  commenced  putting  the 
Alamo  into  fort  fashion.  During  the  month  of  November  '35  with 
great  labor,  Cos  for  the  first  time  turned  the  Alamo  into  a  fort. 
He  threw  down  the  arches  of  the  Church  which  now  lie  inbedded 
with  the  earth  in  order  to  .make  an  inclined  plane  to  haul  cannon 
on  top  the  Church.  He  also  erected  mounds  at  different  distances  on 
the  sides  for  cannon.  And  being  then  a  prisoner  I  do  not  positively 
know,  but  I  am  sure  it  was  then  or  afterwards  when  Santa  Anna 
massacred  Travis  &  Co.  that  those  bastions  and  other  fort  shapes 
were  given  to  the  Alamo. 

My  dear  sir,  I  want  you  to  bear  me  witness  and  I  propose  to 
submit  the  question  to  the  careful  investigation  of  Capt.  Rawlins. 
But  in  making  his  inquiry  there  is  only  one  thing  to  be  guarded 
?.gainst,  a  two-complying  or  assentive  disposition  in  the  Mexicans 
(they  do  not  like  to  say  no,  it  appears  to  be  a  part  of  their  polite- 
ness) I  ask  no  favor,  but  I  confidently  look  for  justice.  Though 
I  must  add  that  I  have  a  desire  to  reside  in  this  particular  spot. 
A  foolish  prejudice,  no  doubt,  as  I  was  almost  a  solitary  escape 
from  the  Alamo  massacre  having  been  sent  by  those  unfortunate 
men  only  four  days  before  the  Mexican  advance  appeared,  as 
their  representative  in  the  convention  which  declared  Independ- 
ence, etc.  Capt.  R.  as  a  man  of  honor  is  aware  of  the  immense 
advantage  which  the  Government  has  in  a  contest  with  an  individ- 
ual. Let  him  in  candor  make  the  requisite  inquires  of  the  most 
respectable  and  disinterested  old  Mexicans.  If  they  say  that  the 
Alamo  was  built  for  a  fort  I  will  freely  surrender  my  supposed 
rights,  but  on  the  contrary  if  they  say  it  was  an  old  Mission  and 
onlly  accidently  and  recently  used  by  the  military  merely  be- 
cause it  was  convenient,  originally  strong,  etc.,  then  I  shall  expect 
Capt.  R.  to  withhold  the  strong  arm  of  power  from  my  poor  pri- 
vileges and  my  little  predilections.  If  my  proposition  is  not  fair 
and  equal,  then  I  pray  that  you  or  Capt.  R.  will  do  me  the  favor 
to  suggest  some  more  acceptable  plan  of  settlement.  Forgive  me, 
dear  sir,  and  believe  me,  Your  attached  fellow  citizen, 

S.   A.    Maverick. 


City  of  Houston, 

September  2,  1839. 
Samuel   A.   Maverick,,   Esq., 

San   Antonio, 
Dear   Sir:  — 

In  compliance  with  the  request  of  yourself  and  fellow 
citizens  and  my  promise  to  do  all  for  your  relief  in  my  power 
and  which  the  exigencies  of  your  situation  demands,  I  have  laid 
before  His  Excellency,  the  President,  the  Secretary  of  war  and 
other  offices  of  Goverment,  the  exposed  and  deplorable  state  of 
your  frontier  and  your  city  in  particular,  and  the  result  of  my  ex- 
positions and  efforts  are.  that  Major  Ross  with  his  detachment 
of  about  seventy  men,  well  mounted  and  well  armed,  has  been  or- 
dered to  include  your  section  of  country  in  his  circuit  of  ranging 
and  to  afford  you  all  the  protection  in  his  power.  The  President 
has  also  written  individually  to  John  H.  Moore  on  the  Colorado  to 
raise  two  hundred  men  to  range  out  your  way.  No  force  can  for 
the  present  be  made  stationary  at  your  place,  although  this  will 
be  attended  to  as  soon  as  recruits  may  be  had  from  the  United 
States. 

I  write  this  in  consummate  haste  as  the  gentleman  who  takes 


MEMOIES  OF  MAEY  A.  MAVERICK  135 

this  is  on  horse  awaiting.  Our  friend  I.  P.  Borden  is  at  my  elbow 
and  sends  his  best  respects  to  you  and  his  thanks  for  the  docu- 
ments which  you  remitted  to  him  by  me. 

With  the  assurances  of  my  esteem  and  regard  for  your- 
self  and    all    our    friends, 

I,  Sir,  remain,  Yours  obediently, 
Thomas   G.    Western 


Seguin,  26,  February  1842. 
Dear  Sirs: 

There  are  a  number  of  our  citizens  who  feel  desirous 
to  render  you  such  aid  as  may  be  in  our  power  in  case  of  an 
attack  upon  your  city.  You  will,  therefore,  oblige  us  by  giving  us 
information  by  return  mail,  and  at  all  times  when  you  think 
prudent,  of  your  situation,  and  we  will  depend  upon  your  in- 
formation and  act  according  to  your  advice.  We  have  many  ru- 
mours here  and  know  not  truly  what  to  believe,  and  the  people 
generally  are  busily  employed,  and  they  do  not  wish  to  act  until 
necessity  requires,  so  that  my  giving  us  correct  information,  we 
will  depend  upon  it  and  come  out  to  your  aid  if  really  needed. 

We  understand  that  an  express  went  on  yesterday  morning  to 
Gonzales  for  aid.  Why  not  give  us  the  news  also?  And  we  can  ren- 
der you  some  aid  and  forward  the  express  to  the  next  settlement. 
A.  company  will  leave  this  in  one  or  two  hours  notice  for  Bexar 
on  foot  at  any  time,  so  that  we  may  be  relied  on  when  you  send 
for  us  by  giving  us  the  true  situation  of  your  affairs,  and  we  will 
not  encumber  ourselves  unnecessarily  by  horses  or  anything  else 
but  arms,  and  can  march  through  in  a  night. 

Be  particular  to  write  by  mail  if  possible. 
I  am,  gentlemen, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

A.  Neill 

Messrs.  C.  Van  Ness 
Ed  Dwyer  and  S.  A.  Maverick 


gal   one   Maverick    4    30    Hill 

MRS    DICKINSON'S    STORY   OF   THE    "FALL   OF   THE   ALAMO." 

Mrs.  Dickinson  told  Dean  Richardson  of  St  Marks  Episcopal 
Church  the  following  story  of  the  "Fall  of  the  Alamo",  several 
times;  once  when  the  transfer  of  the  Alamo  property  from  the 
Church  to  the  State  was  about  to  be  made  (1883).  At  this  time, 
Che  walked  with  him  and  a  party  of  others  to  an  inner  room  in 
the  Alamo,  and  -pointed  it  out  as  the  one  in  which  she  and  the 
Mexican  women  were  asked  to  stay,  and  where  they  were  when 
the  Alamo  fell. 

The  first  attack  of  the  Mexicans  was  over,  and  all  seemed  peace- 
ful, when  one  day  Lieutenant  Dickinson  came  hurriedly  up  to 
their  home  on  Main  Plaza,  saying: 

"Give  me  the  baby;  jump  on  behind  me  and  ask  me  no  ques- 
tions." 

They  galloped  down  to  the  crossing,  at  the  point  where  the  "Mill 
Bridge"  now  is,  but  not  in  time  to  escape  being  fired  at  by  the 
incoming  Mexican?!:  however,  they  succeeded  in  crossing  and 
ha '"•toned  over  to  the  Al^mo. 

Mrs.  Dickinson  said  she  saw  no  fighting — only  the  noise  of  the 


136  MEMOIBS  OF  MABY  A.  MAVERICK 

battle  reaching  her  and  the  few  Mexican  women  inside  the  Alamo. 

On  the  day  of  the  fall,  Sunday,  her  husband  kissed  her  good- 
bye in  the  morning,  and  she  never  saw  him  again. 

Probably  she  and  the  Mexican  women,  who  were  her  compan- 
ions, saw  the  bayoneting  of  the  last  American;  when  the  shoot- 
ing was  over,  a  soldier  crawled  into  the  room  where  they  were, 
not  to  seek  refuge,  but  to  carry  out  an  order  previously  given, 
and  generally  understood,  which  was  that  if  the  garrison  fell 
someone  was  to  try  to  fire  the  powder  supply;  and  this  man 
named  Evans,  wounded  and  spent  with  weariness,  was  killed 
while  making  his  painful  way  to  the  powder  room. 

One  of  the  Mexican  officers,  always  thought  by  Mrs.  Dickinsom 
to  be  General  Almonte,  Chief  of  Staff  to  Santa  Anna,  wlio  spoke 
broken  English,  stepped  to  the  door  of  the  room  in  which  tha 
women  were,  and  asked: 

"Is    Mrs    Dickinson    here?" 

As  she  feared  to  answer  and  kept  quiet,  he  repeated: 

"Is  Mrs.  Dickinson  here?  Speak  out,  for  it  is  a  matter  of  life 
and  death." 

Then  she  answered,  telling  who  she  was,  and  he  took  her  in 
charge  over  to  Main  Plaza.  Here  she  and  her  child  were  held 
and  cared  for  some  days,  when  she  was  given  a  horse  and  a  bag 
of  provisions  and  told  to  go.  She  and  her  baby  and  a  colored  man- 
servant journeyed  safely  eastward  to  the  town  of  Washington, 
then  the  Capital,  where  she  lived  some  years,  later  returning  to 
visit  in  San  Antonio. 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


